


A Day in the Life of Crime

by wellthizizdeprezzing



Category: RWBY
Genre: Dark Humor, F/F, Minor Character Death, Occasional Crack-y humor, dark!Ruby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-06-10 09:23:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 33,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15288471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wellthizizdeprezzing/pseuds/wellthizizdeprezzing
Summary: Cinder, a notorious crime boss, has captured the pure, sweet Ruby Rose for her own entertainment. But is Ruby really as innocent as she seems? Crime AU





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted from my FFnet account.

Chapter One: Whose Been Stealing from the Cookie Jar?

"Well, well," Cinder clicked her tongue as she spoke at a languorous pace, her action of circling in front of the captive girl matching her slow words. She was in an interrogation room, the lights dim and only exit locked to keep the two occupants in it from leaving before answers were extracted. "Look who got caught with her hands in the cookie jar." Cinder stopped at this, the click clack of her black stilettos coming to a stop as she appraised the valiantly struggling girl in the chair. Her hands were tied with steel chains in the back and her legs pinned one leg to each chair leg with steel chain as well. The chains rattled as she squeezed her eyes shut and wrought her shoulders forwards in effort to loosen the bonds holding her.

"Couldn't resist could you, Ruby Rose?" Cinder poised the question, her elegant brow arching upwards. Ruby Rose paused in her actions to send the villainess a glare. Her anger looked out of place on her childish face, her face too cute for such ugly emotions.

"I only wanted one cookie. I wasn't going to take all of them," she pouted at the injustice of the situation.

"Really?" Cinder arched her other brow up, leaning forwards on the gray steel table that separated the space between her and Ruby. She didn't believe the younger girl for a second.

"Yes!" Ruby insisted, nodding her head frantically up and down. "It was just for a snack."

Cinder smirked her full lips at this. "And now it is  _you_  who has become the snack, Ruby Rose," Cinder drawled, rolling her r's on the girl's name. She picked up the item that had been laid out flat on the table. It was stiff and made of leather. A riding crop. Cinder snapped it in her hand and it hit the palm of her gloved hand with a loud noise, one that startled Ruby.

"Uh, what are you...going to do with that?" the girl asked, clearly uncomfortable with the object in Cinder's hand.

"You let me worry about that," Cinder approached the younger girl, absorbing the rising fear in her eyes with delight. She couldn't help from licking her lips in anticipation of what was to come. "In the meantime you should be thinking over your actions and reflecting on what you did wrong. On how one shouldn't steal from the leader of one of Remnant's most dangerous gangs."

"I didn't know, okay," Ruby insisted with panic in her voice as Cinder slipped the tip of the riding crop under her chin and lifted her head up. "If I had known I wouldn't have done it!"

"Do I look like I care?" Cinder asked softly.

"I-"

There was a loud crack. The crop was no longer under Ruby's chin but instead hovering in the air a couple inches away from where it had struck the young girl across the cheek. Her skin, so soft, young and pale, reddened under the strike.

It took the girl a while to realize she had been struck, her mouth still forming the words she was to say before she had been roughly hit. When she realized what had happened, her eyes filled with unshed tears and she bit her lip to stop the sting.

Cinder took this time to rub the offended cheek, stretching the skin out under her gloved hand. How good to be young, for flesh to be so malleable. It could take a lot of damage before scarring occurred. And when it did, it then marred the skin, staying until the later years.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. If you wanted an apology, you have it," Ruby said, trying to hold back her sniffles.

"I don't want your apologizes, Ruby. It's a bit too late for that," Cinder bent her head so she could whisper this into the girl's ear. "The only thing I want is your body, bent and broken at my hand as you lay panting with spent breath, begging me to stop, begging me to-" Cinder ran the tip of the riding crop down the girl's chest until it hit the apex of her thighs, slipping under her skirt.

The girl squirmed in her chains and there was a groan as metal twisted but her bonds held. "And what do you mean, by saying all those things?" Ruby asked innocently, although she was getting closer to noting what exactly Cinder meant.

"Shall I spell it out?" Cinder continued to whisper into the girl's ear, small shivers rocking her body as the older woman's riding crop played with her under her skirt. "I want to fu-"

Before Cinder could get to finish, the chains that had contained Ruby finally snapped and she lunged out of her seat, her hands wrapping around the older woman's shoulders. Cinder's eyes widened and her mouth opened to shout out to her bodyguards outside the door that the prisoner had freed herself of stainless steel chains when warm lips assaulted her own. Cinder took a step back, to detach herself from the sudden attack, but the force of Ruby's momentum caused her to misstep and her heel slipped, causing her to fall backwards with the smaller girl still attached to her by the lips.

Cinder's head smacked against the hard floor and she let out a dizzying groan as Ruby finally pulled free to let the older woman breath. "Whoops, I didn't mean to do that," Ruby giggled and scratched her head in embarrassment. She was sitting on Cinder, straddling her by the hips to the floor.

"Ruby, those were stainless steel chains. How did you break out of them?" Cinder was aghast. How strong was this girl? "We've already tried rope, metal, barbed wire-and you keep breaking out of all of them. How are we supposed to do this villain/ helpless captive roleplay if you can't stay captured?"

Ruby let out a little apologetic chuckle. "Sorry. I forget my own strength sometimes. But it's not my fault. You're just too tempting to resist." At this Ruby leaned down to kiss Cinder once more and the woman let her. "You know just what to say to get me excited." Ruby's hands began to explore the older woman's chest area through the fabric of the thin dress and Cinder let her eyes close at the pleasant sensation.

When their lips pulled apart Cinder spoke. "I'm still going to use the crop on you. You certainly have been very naughty to deserve it." She pulled herself into a half sitting position.

Ruby's eyes darkened at this. "You better. I didn't go stealing all those cookies just to get away with one slap."

"It was going to be more, but  _someone..._ " Cinder rolled her eyes as she trailed off, the short haired girl getting the point. "I already said I was sorry. I just can't stop myself when I'm around you!" the girl pouted and nuzzled Cinder's slender neck in an effort to appease the other.

The woman let her eyes close at this sensation before she turned Ruby's head so she could look into lust heavy silver eyes. "Should we get back into the roleplay?"

"Nah," Ruby said, her lips drawing nearer to Cinder's. "I already got you onto the floor." And then using her abnormal strength she pushed the other down, ripping the front of her shirt apart in one motion. She was greeted by the sight of a Cinder wearing a very lacy and seductive red bra, her breasts practically spilling out of it. Ruby could feel her mouth water at the sight of it and before she could actually do so much as unclasp the bra, the door to the room opened up to admit one gray haired boy with prosthetic robotic legs.

He noted the two's position on the floor and flushed red but decided to foolishly go on with delivering his message. "Uh, sorry to interrupt but-"

"Get out!" Ruby snarled out at the gang worker who had come into the room, holding the door open halfway.

"But boss, it's an emergency. The Faunas-"

"I said get out!"

"But there's a fight!"

"What did I tell you about interrupting me during sexy times?"

"To never do it, unless I wanted to lose something," he repeated what she had said, slightly blanching as he recalled it. Still he had an important message to deliver. "Boss-," the man was insistent.

With a growl, Ruby got off of Cinder and walked over to the door. "Out!" He scampered away, not willing to be near her when she looked this angry. Then she kicked the door in so hard that it wedged in the doorway, crumpled in on itself. It was now impossible to open the door unless one possessed a crane to pull it out with. Ruby let out a sigh and then turned back to Cinder, rolling her shoulders back in an effort to calm herself.

"Now, where were we?"

"You were in the middle of ravishing me, boss," Cinder said with a small smile. She loved it when people interrupted Ruby. Then they started losing fingers and eyes. Mercury was lucky he was half robot and couldn't lose anything more of value. It also made Ruby rougher during their amorous moments which was something Cinder greatly appreciated.

"That's right. And just call me Ruby. You're the boss here now," the brunette said before she rejoined Cinder on the floor.


	2. Ruby's Grand Goals for the Grimm Gang

Ruby Rose dunked one half of her palm sized chocolate chip cookie into a glass of cold milk before she bit into it, her legs swinging back and forth under the table of the local bakery in childish delight. "Man, I'm so glad I'm the boss of one of the biggest gangs in Remnant. Now I can buy all the bakeries in the world I want! Cookies for days!" Ruby exclaimed joyfully, taking another big bite of her cookie and closing her eyes in pleasure at the delightful texture on her tongue.

Cinder, who was sitting across the table, chin propped in her hand as she watched Ruby eat, let a small smile grace her lips. She loved watching the girl when it came time to eat her cookies. She was the very epitome of childish innocence and cuteness, not that she wasn't cute on a regular basis doing whatever task she'd be doing, mundane or otherwise. "How many more bakeries do you have to buy out before you own all of them?"

"About three dozen more, I think," Ruby answered thoughtfully as she reached for another cookie from the plate of thirty cookies she had ordered. "Once I own them all then I'm going to rename them Ruby's Bake Shop, starting a chain store franchise. And we'll sell the best cookies worldwide! I'll make tons of money. And the best part will be that I will get to eat them for free since they'll be my cookie company." Her enthusiasm for this was endearing and Cinder couldn't help but smile once more at the girl's future goals for the gang.

"Maybe you should buy out the flour and sugar factories all over Remnant as well. That way you'll only have the best ingredients for your baking process," Cinder offered helpfully, picking up a cookie from the plate and taking a dainty bite of it. The chocolate chips just melted in her mouth and she enjoyed the gooey texture of the dessert. It was the only other snack besides Ruby that she really enjoyed this much. It was probably because she associated Ruby with cookies, thus when she ate the sweet goods she was reminded of her boss.

"I've never thought of that before!" Ruby said with a gasp. "Thanks for bringing it up. I can't make the best cookies without the best ingredients. Put that on the agenda for next week, Cinder. We'll start taking over all the flour and sugar industries in the city. And then we'll spread from there, and take over the other baked good related factories," the brunette instructed, reaching for yet another cookie.

"Sure thing," Cinder reached for the Scroll in her pants pocket and put that on the list of things Ruby wanted to do, right next to finishing a season of Cake Boss, cuddling with Cinder, and having a slumber party with the henchmen. Putting it away she asked, "do you have any other store you'd like to hit up this day? What about checking out some of the bakeries we have yet to conquer and start terrorizing them so that we can soften them up for our eventual takeover?"

"That sounds like a plan. I was going to put it off but now that I think about it, it probably wouldn't be smart to do that. Recently the bakeries have been targeted. Already two bakeries have been snatched up from right under my nose." At this Ruby's expression turned a bit dark as she glanced into the cup of milk on the table before her, imagining her enemies faces swirling in it. "And I won't lose to my competition anymore."

"You're talking about Sweet Tooth Nora and Reticent Ren?" Cinder asked gently, not wanting to rile Ruby up more than she already was. She liked a mad Ruby, it made her more feisty in bed, but they were in public right now and she didn't want Ruby to go on a rampage and thoughtlessly slaughter those in the vicinity. It wouldn't be good for business.

"Yes." This time Ruby took a harsh bite of her cookie, gnashing the dough in between her teeth. "They've been purposefully getting in my way, halting my plans for complete world domination of bakeries. Their too brazen. But I won't let them get anymore from me. I'll nab those stores before they do," Ruby promised vehemently and finished up her cookie, reaching for another one and shoving it into her mouth, then another and another. Cinder arched a brow, watching the girl stress eat. Ruby wasn't even enjoying the cookies anymore, just shoving them in as she angrily ranted. "And then they'll have no choice but to give up when they see they've been out maneuvered. In fact, how dare they even try to challenge me in the first place."

At this Cinder placed a gentle hand on Ruby's outstretched hand on the table that had curled into a fist. Her other hand stopped, cookie mid-air. "Ruby, be calm. Don't worry too much about it. I'm sure you'll have no issues getting what you want."

Ruby let out a sigh, composing herself. After a second or two she was back to her normal smiling self. "You're right Cinder. I shouldn't worry. Nora's and Ren's gang are crumbs of the cookie, while we're the whole cookie. I shouldn't let them spoil my appetite." At this Ruby began to eat her cookies more slowly, enjoying them once more.

Cinder retracted her hand and let Ruby focus back on her snacks, her legs swinging under the table once more in joy. But the girl's calm was shortly interrupted by her Scroll going off. "Now what?" she grumbled, looking at the caller id and frowning.

"Mercury, what did I tell you about interrupting me during cookie time?" she admonished her henchman.

"Uh, to not interrupt it unless I wanted to be flattened like a cookie," Mercury repeated something that his boss had told him countless times. He shivered as he said this but he had something important to convey and so went on with the call. "But this is important, boss, I swear."

"What could be more important than me enjoying my cookies in peace?" Ruby huffed.

"Nothing, nothing!" Mercury stammered to answer. "But this is about your bakeries!"

Ruby, who had been on the verge of hanging up with the retort of, "exactly, nothing is more important so stop bothering me!" was paused by his comment about the bakeries. "What did you say?" she asked, holding her Scroll closer to her ear.

"Boss, their under attack!"

"Under attack?" Ruby asked, her brows rising in concern.

"Yea. You remember the one we just bought? The one directly in front of that rival gang's one? Well, yea, that's the one that's getting attacked right now. Two criminals are smashing the glass and making away with all your cookies!"

"No," Ruby's voice was a horrified whisper. "Have you sent forces to apprehend them?" Cinder watched with worry as Ruby's face paled. What was the news that was being delivered to her? It looked really bad.

"We have, but boss," Mercury seemed a bit sheepish at this. "We kind of suck and need help. The two criminals are super powerful. And they have wicked cool and dangerous weapons. We aren't anywhere near their cool and wicked level. So our asses are getting kicked!"

"Who are the two criminals?" Ruby asked, her voice now getting dangerously low and her free hand curling up back in anger. She had a sneaking suspicion of who they were but she wanted to be sure so that she could bring her A game to the fight.

"One's a girl with orange hair and a huge sledge hammer. She's also prone to laughing gleefully. And the other is a tall Asian boy with a purple highlight in his hair."

"It's them," Ruby said more to Cinder than to Mercury. The older woman nodded her head in understanding. Then to the boy on the phone Ruby said, "I'll be on my way. Don't worry. I'll protect my cookies!" She then hung up on Mercury's relieved sigh and picked up the glass of milk, chugging it in one go. She set it down with a clunk on the table, her hand tightening around it. "It's Sweet Tooth Nora and Reticent Ren. Their outright targeting my stores now. I won't allow them to get away with this." Ruby stood up, her red cloak swirling around her. She cast a sad look at the unfinished plate of cookies. She would have to finish them later.

"Get them wrapped up and delivered to me later," Ruby instructed Cinder as she strode towards the door.

"Wait, I want to go with you," Cinder said as she got up from her seat too.

Ruby shook her head, a no on her lips. "This is something I need to handle myself. It's me they are taunting, me they want to fight. Beside, I don't want you to get hurt. After all, your safety and health are the reason why I do this, Cinder." Then with a small smile, Ruby brushed out of the store, the little bell on the doorway jingling merrily as she exited.

Cinder let out a sigh, shaking her head. That girl. She could be very fixed on something when she allowed herself to be. Cinder then turned on her heel, after she could no longer track Ruby's progress from the store's wide glass window front, and waved down a store employee so that he could wrap the cookies up to go.


	3. Sweet Tooth Nora and Reticent Ren

An orange haired woman, holding up a massive sledgehammer over her head with her right hand, let out an evil laugh of triumphant. She was standing on top of a bakery, in front of her a scene of absolute chaos. Members of the Grimm gang unit lay unconscious across the street in various funny positions. The black cars they had arrived in were stalled as well, with dents on their hoods that suspiciously looked sledgehammer shaped, and their glass windows shattered, doors half open as they idled, smoke steaming up from their busted hoods. No one could stop her as she took over this bakery. She already owned the one across the street, but now with this one demolished, the employees scared away, and all goods either ruined or captured, the place was as good as hers.

"Is this the best the Grimm gang has to offer?" she jeered from her high perch. "I would think they would have more man power than this. They can't even do anything to stop the Flower Power gang!"

"I think we should change the name," Ren showed up silently behind his comrade Nora, stopping the girl's speech.

"And why? Is there something wrong with our name?" Nora turned to him, hand on her hip and other one lowering her weapon so that it rested against her shoulder now.

He shrugged. "I think it's just a bit...not menacing enough."

"Well I think it's perfect!" Nora humphed. "It's the combination of two of our ultimate moves. It sums us up concisely."

"I suppose," Ren said, not having the energy to engage in a verbal battle with her. She could talk someone to death. He'd seen it happen with his own eyes. Maybe he could convince her to change the name somewhere along the way. They were still fairly new to this whole crime thing. Up until a month or two ago, the two of them had been wanderer's, traveling from town to town and doing menial tasks for the folks there. The money wasn't very good and the constant traveling put a toll on their bodies. They had been looking for new jobs at the local bakery when the place had gotten robbed. Several gang members all clad in black came storming in, demanding the place to surrender and turn over their assets to the Grimm gang. Nora and Ren, both people who carried weapons and had been trained since birth in their hometown on how to wield them before leaving for work, had used these said weapons to knock the members out. The store owners had been so grateful that they had showered the two heroes with free food.

Nora, digging into the tastiest cake she had ever had, had had a wild revelation. "Ren, this could be it! This could be the key to getting a steady job, to having money to send back to our families!"

"Fighting crime?" the boy had asked sensibly, nibbling on a piece of this and on a piece of that, not certain which he enjoyed more.

"No! Don't be silly. We can take over bakeries. Just look at this awesome and sweet food! I can't believe I've never tried some before. We need to protect this preciousness!" Nora cuddled the cake slice to her face before she devoured it next second. Ren wasn't even taken aback by her weird idea-he was so used to her odd schemes.

"That's because we've never had the money to afford any," Ren pointed out, secretly gushing over the sweets as he sat with a calm outer demeanor and ate them. Nora wasn't as good at hiding her emotions. She was literally jumping up and down as she shoved one snack into her mouth and then eagerly grabbed the next one. She was speaking around her full mouth, crumbs showering out of it and onto Ren's hair, which the boy brushed with his hand occasionally to remove the mess.

"So you agree with me!"

"I never said I did-"

"Great. Then that means we have to start making plans on how to take over all the bakeries in this city! They'll be under our protection or something like that. And in that way we can forever have them in our debt and have all the sweets we want!" Nora let out a wild whoop and raised her cake covered hands high in the air.

Ren let out a sigh. He would just have to go wherever it was Nora went, such was the foundation of their relationship. She would come up with some hare-brained scheme and he would go along with it to make sure she didn't get hurt along the way. Whether he did it out of obligation to when she saved him from getting bullied as a child, or out of something else, some feeling he could not yet name, he wasn't sure. But he would follow her anywhere and do anything she asked of.

"Okay," he agreed and the very next day the two of them had strode up to a nearby bakery.

"Good morning people of this wonderful bakery!" Nora had greeted, her sledgehammer slung over her right shoulder casually. The people of the bakery who had been sitting at their tables with their kids, eating their snacks, paused in their talk to look up at the newcomer. Ren was standing silently by her side. No one spoke as the door behind the two closed slowly. Only when it shut did the guy at the register, who also conveniently happened to be the store owner, address them. "Uh, can I help you two?" He eyed Nora's blatant display of her weapon.

"Yup!" Nora popped her p. "We're here to offer you protection."

"Protection?" the guy echoed.

"Recently it has come to our attention that around this neighborhood there are some nasty individuals that like robbing bakeries. And so we've come up with a solution for it."

"We...we don't want your protection," the man slowly said, his eyes narrowing in suspicion at the orange haired woman.

"You don't? Not even if the people come into your store and trash it?" At this Nora cocked her head in fake contemplation, putting her weapon down top first to the store floor, hand on it's handle. The store owner watched the weapon's shift in position warily but did not waver. "No thanks. We're not in need of such services. We can protect ourselves adequately."

"Hmm," Nora let her eyes close momentarily as a wide grin stretched on her face. "So you wouldn't want my help even if, for example, let's say the group of criminals came in and did this?" At this Nora lifted up her sledgehammer and with an easy flick of her wrist she turned around and smashed one panel of the store's glass front.

The customer's flinched collectively at this blatant attack and one kid let out a loud cry that was rapidly silenced by their mother in fear of attracting Nora's attention.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing!" the store owner shouted out, wagging a hand at them angrily. "Quit it!"

"But if you have bad guys robbing your store then they won't simply just stop because you yell at them!" Nora said, her grin getting wider. "They'll take to destroying more things. Like this table here." And with that she wrapped both hands on the staff of the weapon and picked it up over her head before swinging it down with resounding force on the table next to her. The couple who were sitting at it, fell onto their butts as they tried to get out of the chairs in order to get away from her as the metal furniture caved in under the strike. They scrambled towards the exit and Ren let them pass. This seemed to break the spell that was held over the crowd and they all took to their feet, rushing out. Ren held the door for them as they did so. Just because he was helping Nora terrorize some people didn't mean he couldn't be a complete gentlemen during it.

The store owner in this time had taken to digging his Scroll out of his pocket and was trying to call the police. Ren tugged out his weapon, a cross between an smg and a blade, and shot off one bullet. The Scroll went flying out of the man's hand and he let out a little cry of surprise at that motion. Ren then lowered his gun arm and closed the door behind him, everyone having vacated the area except for the now scared store owner.

"So what will it be?" Nora asked the lone man, lifting up her weapon and swinging it around haphazardly in an arc to her left. He watched her weapon, leery that she would wreck something else of his, but he was also torn with looking over at Ren's weapon. Both were equally dangerous.

"I suppose...I suppose I'll take your offer," he said, not knowing what else to do in this situation. He needed to stall for time. Maybe he could somehow escape these two lunatics.

This statement made the girl happy. "Yay! Ren did you hear that! Did you! He wants us to help him!" Nora skipped over to Ren, turning her back on the store owner and leaving herself wide open. The store owner reached under the counter where he kept a shotgun just in case of criminals like these and lifted it, with the purpose to shoot her. Right now she was distracted and so was her accomplice, who was shaking his head in exasperation at her display of joy, one that warranted her to pumping her arms up and down over her head, her weapon discarded on the floor. The store owner quickly pumped the gun and set it's sights on the two, the orange haired girl first on his list, but before he could so much as inch his finger towards the trigger he found himself with a bullet to the chest. He let out a strangled cry and fell over backwards, the gun going off and blasting a hole in the ceiling.

Nora turned around at this, not even noticing that Ren had shot the man so in her own joy she was occupied. "Huh, what was that?" She walked over to the counter and peered over it to see the dead owner. "Ren!" she snapped back at the dark haired man. "You killed him! Now whose going to run this place?"

Ren sighed and shrugged. He didn't want to have to explain to her how the store owner was going to kill her if Ren hadn't shot him down first. It would be too much waste of breath. Nora would have still scolded him no matter what.

"Hah," she let out a loud breath and leaned her back on the counter. "I guess the place is ours now. Do you know how to bake?"

And that was how the two of them had come into possession of their first bakery shop. Nora then had gained the second one by much the same method. The girl wanted to help protect the people of the city from the gang that ravaged their baked goods stores but she wasn't entirely going about in a better way. The thing with her was that she was very one track minded and thought that she knew best. So if someone disagreed with her then she was wont to ignore their opinion and do what she thought was best.

And now they had just captured their third bakery. But they hadn't realized what a horrid mistake they had just made.

Ren noted a blur on the rooftops of the block over and he tugged on Nora's sleeve, pointing at it when she was broken out of her joyful celebration.

"Ooo, company. I wonder if they love cookies too and want to buy some," Nora asked obliviously.

"I don't think so," Ren said as the figure stopped before them, on the rooftop over. It was a young looking girl, with a red cloak around her shoulders.

"Hello there! I'm afraid if you want some baked goods from this place, you'll have to wait. The place is currently under going reparations and a shift in management thanks to the Flower Power gang," Nora called out, waving her hand in greeting at the girl.

"And who is the Flower Power gang?" The girl's voice was even and her face neutral. It was hard to tell what she was thinking right now.

Ren had a feeling this girl wasn't a regular customer. She had moved way too fast, leaping from rooftop to rooftop like it was nothing. She was trained it seemed, something akin to how they had been. He tightened his grip on his weapons. He couldn't see any weapons on her, her red cloak covering up most of her figure but it wouldn't hurt to be careful. He only wished Nora could be more wary too. As it was the girl was too high off her win to be careful.

"It's us two!" Nora proudly pointed at her and Ren. "It's only us two for now but once we get more money than we can afford to get gang members and getaway cars and all that great stuff so that we can protect the city from evil."

The girl was quiet before she scoffed. "What a stupid name."

"I told you we should change the name," Ren muttered to Nora who wasn't listening to him.

"How dare you insult us! It's a great name! Who are you anyways?" Nora pointed angrily at the other, her good mood souring and disappearing into the air in a charge of ozone. Her semblance was flaring up but the orange haired girl wouldn't activate it. She only reserved it for really taxing battles and she didn't seem to think this girl was dangerous.

"I'm Ruby Rose, leader of the Grimm gang, and you've just intruded on my territory." At this the small girl pulled out a weapon from under her cloak. It unfolded and turned into a massive scythe that looked too ungainly to wield.

Ren let out a sigh. Trust Nora to rob the one bakery that just so happened to belong to one of the most notorious gangs. "Here we go," he muttered and tightened the grip on his weapons once more.


	4. The Tasteless Battle for the Bakery

"Ruby Rose?" Nora tipped her head, confusion etched upon her face. "So you're the one in charge of all those bad guys down there?" Nora pointed at the devastation on the street.

"Yes. And you've just hurt them, not to mention ransacked my store. I don't take insults dealt to me easily," the short girl gripped her weapon tighter. "I don't know what game it is you are playing, but you better quit it while you still can get away."

Nora shook her head. "I don't think so. You're hurting people by stealing their bakeries away from them. And as self proclaimed Sweet Tooth Nora, it is my job to be the savior of these people's bakeries and to put them under my protection. I won't let you take away people's sugar!" She hefted her weapon at this, level to her chest, both hands steady on it. "And if you want to fight me for it then go ahead. Me and Ren aren't scared of you. We've taken down worse looking enemies during our travels. You're nothing to be scared of. Just because you're leader of the Grimm doesn't mean you have the talent to back it up."

"Are you done with this talk of yours?" Ruby asked, heaving out a yawn. "You've interrupted my cookie break and I hate when people do that."

Nora was a bit taken aback to have her spiel cut off, but then again Ren had always told her she did have to cut them down as she had a tendency to go on a tangent. One time she had ranted to one of their victims, going from one topic to another in such rapid succession that the man's ears had begun to bleed.

Nora sniffed angrily. "I was just wrapping up. But it doesn't matter now. I'll just let my weapon do the talking."

"I was hoping for that," Ruby muttered and then leapt off her roof to land on the one that Ren and Nora were standing on, bypassing a gap of ten feet. She landed without so much as a sound, her cloak falling around her and spilling to the ground like blood.

Ren didn't like the look of their opponent. She was the leader of the Grimm gang after all! Despite her being small and fragile and utterly too innocent looking to have shed so much blood like the Grimm gang reputedly had, and despite Ren not being sure if her being leader was just a bluff, he could sense that there was power in her. He could feel it radiating off of her.

"Nora, I think we should go. Let's abandon this store and just target another one."

"Aww, but we already did so much work to get this one. And I really wanted to try the cherry pie they had here. It looked so good!" Nora pouted.

"It's not worth it. She's dangerous," Ren said, eyeing the girl in front of them. He and Nora were still relatively new to the city so they didn't have much background on the Grimm or their leader except for the fact that the gang ran most of this area. But now that he saw the girl he figured it was best to leave the mission. The leader was pissed and he didn't want to risk it.

"No!" Nora stomped her foot stubbornly. "We worked this damn hard for this store. We fought so many swarms of people for it and I will not give up. We are the heroes here. We have to fight for the people of this city so that they can have their sweets. And so that we can have them too!"

"The sweets in the city belong to me," Ruby stood up at this, planting her scythe hilt down onto the roof. "You better understand that real soon, because I do not intend to share with anyone."

"You're just being greedy!" Nora shouted back childishly. "A greedy, greedy, little girl!"

At this Ruby's eye muscle twitched dangerously. "What did you call me?"

"A greedy girl!"

"No, after that," Ruby said softly and quietly. Ren did not like the look in her silver eyes. Nora of course didn't notice it. She wasn't good at reading people because she spent so much time pouring out her own emotions and overpowering theirs. But Ren, who preferred to remain quiet, could spend more time reading people's faces as well as listen to what they said, something Nora was horrid at as well.

"A little girl?" Nora questioned.

"I'm not a little girl! I'm a grown girl!" Ruby stomped her foot like a child, pouting heavily. "Just yesterday I grew a centimeter! A centimeter! I know it's not a lot but I've been drinking my milk and Cinder says that I'm still growing at this age so I have time to get taller and have big boobs and stuff like her!"

Nora and Ren exchanged confused stares at this. Apparently the girl was sensitive to her height. Ren gave his partner a shrug that conveyed the message that he didn't know if he should interrupt the brunette who was still going on and on about the issue, shouting something about how she knew she was definitely going to have a growth spurt any day now.

Nora decided to interrupt. "So, uh, are you done yet? Can we fight now?"

This stopped Ruby who let out a petulant huff. "Fine. But don't call me a little girl!"

"Okay..." Nora gave a mischievous smile. "Little girl!"

This made Ruby's eyes flare angrily. "Fatty!" This wasn't the best insult but all she could come up with on such notice.

This made Nora rear back as if she had been hit physically. "Huh, fatty? Ren, I'm not fat am I? Am I?" She turned to the tall boy for reassurance.

"No, you're not."

"See, I'm not fat, so you take that back right now!"

"Fine...carrot top!" Ruby changed up her word game.

This made Nora rear back a second time. "What? What's wrong with having orange hair. Ren, tell her there's nothing wrong with having orange hair!"

Ren let out a heavy sigh but did as asked. "There's nothing wrong with having orange hair." Would they ever get to the fight part? Not that he was eager to fight Ruby but still...this childish banter was getting ridiculous. It was like Nora and Ruby were the same person.

"Well at least my clothes aren't as tacky as yours!" Ruby pointed at Nora's jacket.

Nora looked down at her clothes then at her partner. "Ren!"

Ren let his shoulders sag down. "Nora's clothes are awesome. I love them," was said in monotone.

Nora turned back to Ruby triumphantly. "Ha!" she crossed her arms over her chest after setting her weapon down on the floor so she could free her hands.

"He only doesn't want to hurt your feelings, that's why he's saying it!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yuh-uh!"

"Ren is my best friend. He would never lie to me!"

"Yes he would!"

The girl's had just resorted to yelling stupidly at one another, wagging pointer fingers at each other in exclamation.

"You're just mad you don't have a best friend!"

"I have plenty of friends!"

"I bet you're lying. Doesn't she look like she has no friends Ren?"

"Tell her that's not true Ren!" And now Ruby was asking his opinion too. He sweat-dropped. This was going to require him to speak more and he honestly did not want to. So he took out his weapon and shot off a bullet at Ruby to get some action rolling.

The girl swiped the bullet out of mid-air, splitting it into two halves that hit the ground behind her. She was good; super quick. At his shot some calm entered her and she got serious once more. "That's right. I don't have anymore time to waste on you two." And then she lunged forward, racing across the flat rooftop towards them. Nora too, entered her serious mode and lifted her weapon up in both her hands, holding it in front of her chest while Ren picked up both of his hands to raise his dual smg's/blades up and fired off multiple rounds at the red and black target in front of him.

Ruby merely dodged all of them, the bullets missing her by just millimeters. "She got through my barrage!" Ren cried out, shocked by her precision. He was an amazing shot; he didn't have troubled shooting a grape from the top of someone's head yards away. But she was too fast. It looked like he would have to get into close combat with her, something he hadn't had to do with anyone in a long time, and something he definitely wasn't excited about, given the girl's scythe. But Nora was better at close range. "Get into close quarters with her Nora," he ordered, the girl nodding her head in confirmation.

Now Ruby was six feet away from them and he stopped shooting at her and moved out of her path to the side to give Nora her chance.

"On it!" Nora let a silly grin grace her lips, rushed at Ruby, and swung her weapon as hard as she could while Ruby swung her's.

The two of them never stood a chance.

* * *

"How did it go?" Cinder asked from her chair behind her desk as Ruby entered the room. She looked fresh, as if she didn't just fight with two others.

"It was alright," the girl said cheerily. She set her scythe against the wall. The blade was devoid of any blood so that meant it hadn't been one of  _those_  days. "I let them get off with a warning not to mess with us again, since they were new here and didn't know any better. I think they got the message loud and clear now as to who we are."

"And if they didn't?" Cinder asked, getting up from her chair, tossing the pencil she had been filling out forms with to the side.

At this Ruby's expression hardened. "Then they won't get another chance."

"I love it when you act all tough and evil," Cinder cooed as she embraced the smaller girl to her chest. "But you don't have to force yourself to do it. In fact, I think it might even freak out your opponents even more if you were happy all the time."

"But I wanna be tough looking like you. I want to be able to scare people with my mere presence in the room," Ruby pouted as she snuggled closer to Cinder's chest, breathing in the others incense like scent.

"You don't have to be like me. I like you the way you are, as Ruby Rose." At this Cinder pulled Ruby away and lifted her chin up with her thumb so that she could meet the others downcast gaze. "Ruby, look at me." Ruby did. "You are perfect the way you are. And if you force yourself to be who you aren't then your enemies will sniff that out and use it as a weapon to weaken you."

Ruby let out a sigh. "I guess that's right. Today it was hard to be all dark and menacing towards Sweet Tooth Nora and Reticent Ren even though I was kind of upset at them. But what about when I get really angry? Like really, really,  _really_ , angry. Then I get super aggressive and hurt other people. Do you want me to continue that or stop that?"

"No Ruby. That anger is a true part of you and I wouldn't change it for anything. I've already made it clear before but I shall do it once more. I love it when you get angry and let loose because it means that you care enough about certain things; that you are a passionate person and I love people who are strongly passionate about something." Cinder let a smile grace her lips.

"Thanks Cinder. You always know what to say to cheer me up." Ruby closed the gap between them and went up on her toes to give the older woman a kiss on the lips.

"And I have something else that will make you happy." Cinder pulled away and went over to her drawer, pulling out a white paper bag that contained the cookies from lunch.

Ruby could smell them all the way from here, her nose notorious for being able to pick out scents of sweets easily. "Man, you are just the best Cinder!" She raced over to grab the bag from Cinder's hand. Cinder chuckled at her exuberant expression and sat down back at her desk. Ruby took this chance to straddle the older woman's lap and snuck out a cookie from the bag. Then holding one end in her mouth, she presented the other end to Cinder, who still chuckling, let her lips close over it as she took a bite. The two of them chewed the cookie in silence, Cinder's hands coming up to rest on Ruby's waist so that the girl wouldn't fall off. Not that the fall would hurt her anyways. Ruby was like a tank, shouldering on with a little laugh and smile on her face, impervious to pain.

Ruby broke the silence the two had lapsed into. "I wish they made Cinder flavored cookies. Then I could eat you anywhere and anytime." The girl blushed as she said this and Cinder could feel her own face flare in arousal and happiness at the girl's honest words.

"Well, if you're still looking for a snack, then I'm here." Cinder leaned closer to the girl's face, her words a seductive whisper. Not that Ruby needed to be seduced. The girl was Cinder's and Cinder's alone.

"Then allow me to dig in," Ruby growled out, her eyes flashing with lust and fingers digging into Cinder's exposed collarbone.

Cinder's paperwork went unfinished that night, but the desk on which it was spread out on got well used. Ruby made sure to see to it.


	5. A Bumpy Car Ride

"Do you have any idea why the White Fang want to meet with us today?" Ruby asked between gasped breaths.

"I think it has something to do with wanting to align themselves with us. They've finally seen us as allies, as someone powerful enough to provide an advantage if they work with us," Cinder responded in a somewhat muffled tone of voice. Right now her mouth was a bit occupied with licking a very sensitive spot between the apex of Ruby's thighs, her hands holding her by the hipbones to keep the girl from squirming too much. They weren't exactly in a place with too much space.

"Mmhm, well then I guess that's good. Although I'm not sure what they could offer to us for their side of the bargain, if they want to make a deal with us." Ruby stifled a moan at the end of the sentence. She dug her fingers into the leather of the backseat of the car they were traveling in to get to this meeting, in an effort to ground herself and keep her hips from bucking up too violently. Last time she had done that she had almost knocked out one of Cinder's teeth. Sometimes Ruby forgot her own strength. While her partner, Cinder, was strong in her own right, Ruby could still easily overtake her.

"Well, one thing is brute force. They have a lot of followers and no doubt access to weaponry that we could use to supply our own forces with. They can get us things that we wouldn't normally be able to get from Menagerie. Which is the home of faunas," Cinder concluded, letting her tongue do one last swipe that dragged Ruby off of the edge. Her body shivered as she came undone, her eyes closing shut before they reopened after she rode the last of the waves of pleasure rocking her body. The girl recovered quickly and pulled up Cinder to kiss her on the lips. Just at that moment there was a bump on the road and the car jumped up, causing the two of their heads to knock together painfully.

"Ouch!" Ruby cried out, tears coming to her eyes, and grabbed her hurt forehead. "Mercury, what did I tell you about hitting bumps on the road!" she yelled angrily at the driver of the small black car.

"Uh, you said not to do it, unless I wanted to end up a bump on the road myself while you drove over me repeatedly," the driver said ducking his head into neck in scared apology.

"And don't forget!" Ruby reminded before she let out a giant sigh. "Alright, it's your turn," she told Cinder, this time pushing the woman down before clambering on top of her. The older woman was spread out on the black leather of the seat, her hair spilling around her, black on black. Her chest heaved up and down in anticipation and Ruby let one hand trail down the woman's cheek all the way to her thigh, her red dress only going down to mid thigh and leaving Ruby with not too much fabric to push out of the way to reach her prize. "Did the White Fang specify want they wanted out of this arrangement or was it mainly left up in the air, only to be discussed at the meeting?" Ruby asked as she laid hot kisses down Cinder's pale neck.

"They mainly seemed interesting in meeting us face to face and in voicing any ideas or agreements before settling down on making some decision at a later scheduled meeting," Cinder responded with, letting her hands roam up to Ruby's back and holding her tightly there.

"Hmmm, seems a bit odd. That they would want to see us face to face. Are you sure it's not a trap or something?" Ruby asked, as her hand which had been rubbing circles on Cinder's thighs, began to duck under her dress, thumbing at the thin lace panties there.

"We were told to bring no weapons and the meeting is in a public place, so even if fighting did break out Adam would get in trouble too. The police are looking for him, and he does not need to draw attention to himself. Beside, if there is one thing Adam is known for, it is for keeping his promises. He promised to fight for faunas rights and he does. He promised to kill that politician and he did. He promised to give a cut of all his earnings to the poor faunas and he does. It's a bit odd that he-!" at this Cinder sucked in a deep breath as Ruby's hand bypassed the panties. "Well, he's a bit old fashioned in that he upholds his promises. And it's especially weird given the field we are in. People back-stab each other like it's going out of fashion, but not him," Cinder said in a much lighter and breathier tone of voice, her eyes closing halfway.

"That is weird," Ruby murmured to herself, swooping down to kiss Cinder only for the two of their teeth to clack together painfully as Mercury swerved to the side.

"Mercury!" Ruby hissed, glaring at the man and seeing his scared reflection in the rear view mirror. He looked pale under his chauffeur cap but tried to explain his actions. "I know you told me to drive smoothly but-"

"Then drive smoothly!"

At this Mercury looked out the driver's side window and then swerved the car to the right. This time Ruby heard it. She had been too occupied with Cinder's breathy moans and the details of the mission to hear the whiz of a passing by bullet, but not this time.

"Whose shooting at us?" Ruby sat up, fixing her shirt immediately and pulling on her skirt which laid discarded on the car floor. The car was bullet proof, a precaution all gang leaders took, but Ruby didn't like the idea that someone was trying to off them, and that their bullets could go astray and hit someone else by accident.

"I don't know boss. Some guys in the car following us. I tried to shake them off a couple minutes ago but then I hit the bump and you told me to drive smoother so they caught up and-"

"Ugh, I hate it when people interrupt my car rides!" Ruby growled out, and all dressed up, she reached for Crescent Rose which was buckled in on the passenger seat. "I'll be back. I'm going to have a quick chat. It better not be the White Fang trying to wipe us out." And with that the girl opened the car door while the car was still in motion and jumped out, slamming the door shut behind her as she hit the ground running.

Cinder sat up with a sigh. It looked like they would be interrupted again. But Cinder didn't mind. In fact, Ruby would be pissed off by the interruption when she came back and that would give Cinder guaranteed extra fun.

"Uh, should I stop and wait somewhere for her?" Mercury asked as he continued down the road. He was eyeing the downsized version of what was going on to the car behind him in his rear view mirror, Ruby a blur of red and black around the vehicle. Gun fire sounded and then the car screeched as it swerved to the right and into some trees that lined the single lane road.

"It'll be fine," Cinder said calmly as she pulled out her lipstick and reapplied it to her lips. She was going to leave her mark all over Ruby. "She'll catch up."

"Okay," Mercury sighed nervously and kept his white gloved hands on the steering wheel. Already the crashed car was getting more and more distant and then suddenly it exploded into a conflagration. The loudness of the explosion startled him and he jumped lightly in his seat, jumping once more when he suddenly found Ruby sitting back in the back seat, a couple of rose petals fluttering down around her and settling on the floor.

"It's those guys again! Cardin and his fellow lackies!" Ruby complained, compressing her weapon into one piece before reaching over and placing it in the passenger seat of the car and strapping it in carefully like one would to a baby. "I swear they always come after me in the worst times. And I don't even know what they want. They aren't powerful enough to take down my gang or even seem to want to do it, so what do they want from me? It's so frustrating!" Ruby fumed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Cinder placed an arm around her neck, directing the smaller girl's face to her. "Why don't you just forget about them. Let me take care of your frustrations." Her lips brushed against Ruby's and the smaller girl gave in without a second thought.

Cinder knew who those guys happened to be. She was the one who hired them whenever she needed someone to help piss off Ruby. She paid them well for their troubles and in return she got her angry Ruby. An angry Ruby who was very much appreciated during more amorous moments. Sometimes one had to be creative to spice up their sex life, especially if their partner hated getting mad and wouldn't do it themselves. And if Cinder couldn't get Cardin and his men to help after a particular nasty attack by Ruby on them, then she could count on Mercury to do it for her, as he didn't have many human body parts to lose and thus Ruby didn't feel as inclined to hurt him as she did to others. The boss had had a different assistant but after three months she had been hospitalized so often that the poor girl had simply chosen to quit and risk getting whacked off by the gang rather than live and work for Ruby any longer.

For the rest of the ride poor Mercury had a hard time keeping the car on the road but it wasn't due to chasers but because the car rocked so hard it might tip over. Sighing and raising the volume on his headphones, he tightened his grip on the steering wheel and wondered why he had the misfortune of being the chauffeur every damn time. Or why he always had to tell the boss the bad news. Really, life wasn't fair. Another long moan swan in through his already loud music and he took to humming loudly and with a hint of panic so that he wouldn't have to hear anything else. Were the girl's always this loud? Or was it just today?

"Shut up! You're ruining the mood with your stupid humming!" Ruby gave the back of his chair a hard kick, sending the man face first into the steering wheel. This caused the car to swerve into a parked car on the side of the road and interrupt the two girl's in the back.

"Mercury! What did I tell you about driving well!"

"I'm sorry boss-" the man blubbered out as he pulled his face out of the air bag.

"Lay down on the road right now!"

"But I just got my leg fixed!" He couldn't keep the whine out of his voice.

"What did I tell you!"

With a heavy sigh Mercury got out of the car and laid down flat on the road on his back. Ruby got out of the backseat and into the driver's seat, putting the car into reverse so she could have some length of road to cover before she hit Mercury. Then she pushed the car forwards, it rolling slowly so Mercury's pain would be more drawn out.

Cinder pulled herself into a sitting position in the back seat in the meantime, trying to tug the tattered pieces of her top together so that it could make her look a bit more decent. Her hair was mussed up and her lipstick smudged, most of it on Ruby's neck. It was a good thing she had packed extra clothes for this and some makeup wipes. She always made sure to do so for every car ride the two of them went on. Things always got steamy in the backseat. Sometimes she felt bad for Mercury who always had to drive them when it happened. But not too bad. It  _was_  his job after all.

And now Ruby had gotten pissed off at Mercury too. It was a double bonus. She'd never had Ruby after she was mad twice in a row. Cinder was excited to say the least for what lay in store for the two of them now in the physical department. And as Mercury's screams were covered up by Ruby's evil giggles, Cinder sighed wistfully in anticipation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Mercury can't seem to catch a break :/


	6. Ruby's Past

Ruby had anger issues. Bad anger issues. She didn't want to have any, but that didn't take the fact away that her temper was often spiraling out of control. A wrongly said word, a wrongly placed action, and her mood would whorl into a stormy tempest. She couldn't help it. It was just who she was. She didn't like being angry. And it most certainly did not fit her image. She was petite and cute looking, so when she went off on a rampage it caught others off guard so badly they often never wanted to associate with her, leaving her sadly friendless. Because when Ruby got mad, she got violent. Things broke, people got hurt, and she raged on until her anger was spent.

She had tried several different ways to hold in her anger but that did no wonders for her. It would only gather inside her, like a well full of rainwater, until it overfilled, a tidal wave that wiped away every last shred of humanity. In fact, it was her bad temper that left her in the situation she was in now, her being the boss of the Grimm.

It had all started that faithful day six months ago. Ruby, whose dream it had been to be a huntress at Beacon Academy, had sent in an application to them. She wanted to learn how to fight crime and to protect the people of the city from evil villains and the likes. Yet, despite her prodigal prowess and capabilities with her semblance and weapon, the school had rejected her, citing that she was simply too young and they could not accept her. That she should try again in three years time.

This had made Ruby mad. She wanted to attend Beacon with her older sister Yang more than anything else she had ever wanted before, but the stupid school hadn't let her, they denied her one dream. So she had decided to go around and thrash some garbage cans so that her anger wouldn't hurt any one person or hurt an establishment. However, while she had been out back, kicking some trash bags around till they erupted like rotten fireworks, she had overheard some villains. Edging around the corner of the back of the store she saw three men dressed in black. She instantly recognized the mark of the Grimm mask that covered their faces, deformed white shapes with black marks and red glowing eyes. It was the Grimm gang, one that threatened the entirety of the city. A small smile had broken out on Ruby's face as she saw them. She could use this opportunity to beat them up and then it would show that stupid Ozpin guy how really powerful and useful she was. And then he would have to let her into the school! Fueled by her anger, she took out her weapon and went up to them.

"What are you doing here little girl?" one of them had asked, the one that had been first to see her. "This isn't a safe place for little girl's like you. Now get back before we hurt you."

"And put away the weapon you have there. Little girl's shouldn't play with blades," the other said, bending down to pat her condescendingly on the head. Ruby felt her brow twitch at this. Ozpin had called her a little girl too before he had turned her away. She wasn't a little girl!

"I'm just small for my age, but I still have time to grow! And I'm strong. Stronger than you all!" Ruby insisted, stomping her foot in annoyance, her eyes scrunching up.

"Sure sure," said the third dismissively. "Now get out of the way before you get hurt. We have something to finish here."

"The only thing getting finished here will be you!" Ruby growled out, holding her weapon up higher, mentally high fiving herself for that good one liner. She even talked like a good huntress. So why couldn't she be one?

"Huh?" the first of the three blubbered out, not expecting those words from her mouth. But those were the last words he heard from her mouth for the rest of the evening because with two well placed swings of her blade she caused him and his friends to knock out. Ruby had then taken the unconscious criminals to Ozpin who had merely looked at her down his nose and said that this wasn't proof enough that she was qualified to join the school. Then she had gotten mad all over again, her joy at having taken down the criminals cut short.

So then she been kicking  _another_  pile of trash when she overheard yet another evil scheme. More Grimm gang members were planning to rob another store. So Ruby went to stop them but their unconscious bodies still did not impress Ozpin. And incentivized even more so, the girl had decided to capture one of the Grimm members and then interrogate him until he told her where she could find the leader of the gang so she could fight them. The captive didn't know where to find the gang leader since he was the last rung on the social gang ladder, and so he had sent her to someone who would know and that person sent Ruby to someone else and that someone else sent her to someone else. Ruby went on a wild goose chase until at last she reached the top. But it wasn't easy.

Along the way there had been boss battles. Ones that tested her abilities to the core. But she had succeeded and finally reached the last level: the real boss. She had strode into the boss's chambers, ready to kick her ass, but when she laid eyes on her everything changed. She was beautiful, her long evil locks tumbling down her shoulder and as dark as the very night she worked in. Her curvy figure was clad in a skin hugging red dress with sheer red sleeves and gold racing up and down the side in swirls. Flames danced in the palm of her hand and she turned her head over her shoulder to look back at Ruby, the rest of her body facing the giant half arch windows overlooking the city.

"So, this is it. The moment that will ascertain everything. The fight that will determine the fate of my gang. You have done well to pursue me this far, but today will be the last day you will be able to do so, for it all ends now." Even her voice was hot, smooth like velvet and with the right touch of timbre to it. Cinder turned to fully face Ruby at those words, whose grip had gone slack on her weapon, causing it to drop to the floor with a clatter. Ruby had never seen such a majestic being like this and her brain wasn't sure what to do about it, and neither did her body. Cinder arched a brow at that action, and at the dumbfounded look on Ruby's face before continuing. "Are you ready to fight?"

Ruby's next words startled Cinder so badly she almost lost her balance in her sky high stilettos. "Can I join your gang?"

Cinder blinked once, twice. And then pinched herself with her free hand on her neck to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She wasn't. "What?"

"You're so pretty. I want to work for you!" Ruby pumped her hands up and down enthusiastically before realizing she had some drool on her chin and going to wipe it off with the back of her sleeve. "Where do I sign up?"

"Err, uh." Cinder, a smooth talker who was able to talk her way out of any situation, found herself unable to articulate an answer to Ruby's response. The flame in her hand died out, a plume of smoke in the shape of a question rising up from where it had been. "Don't you want to fight me, anymore? I mean, I was kind of hyped up for this fight."

"Nope, not anymore. You're pretty." Ruby shook her head back and forth.

"But I trained for months for this." Cinder couldn't keep the hint of whine out of her voice. "Like, a lot."

"Still don't wanna fight you. Too pretty." Ruby nodded her head up and down quickly.

"But you decimated a huge portion of my gang. You ruined my operation! And now you're just going to stop all this, just because I'm pretty?" Cinder lifted her hands up in the air to accentuate the ridiculousness of this concept.

"Yup. Now, where do I sign up for the job. Ruby Rose reporting for duty!" Ruby snapped her heels together and saluted Cinder who sighed and did a face slap. "Outside the door and down the hall, third room on the right. You can sign up with Roman. He's the guy with the stupid hat whose always smoking a cigar." Cinder would ordinarily be worried that new recruits could be double agents, especially if they changed sides so quickly, but this girl looked too naive for such trickery. So then was she really going to give up destroying Cinder's gang just because Cinder was pretty? Cinder had to make sure, the idea not giving her any rest until she was a hundred and ten percent certain.

"So, you're really not going to fight me?"

"Yes."

"Like...really,  _really_ , not going to fight me."

"Yes."

"For reals. No fighting at all? Not even a little exchange of negative words. Or a harsh stare?"

"Yup. You got it. Gonna keep it a hundred percent fight free between us," Ruby nodded her head up and down harshly, promising vehemently.

"Well...wow," Cinder said for a lack of better words.

"Alright, I'm gonna go sign up now. See you later boss." Ruby waved to Cinder before leaving the villainess's chambers.

* * *

"I still cannot believe that was how you came into the gang," Cinder said, concluding her reminiscing on how her and Ruby met for the first time. She was lying on her back on their double poster bed, the younger girl's head resting on her stomach as Cinder's fingers threaded through her short locks. "I thought it was a joke."

"But it was all earnest. I was super serious about joining you!" Ruby sat up at this so she could look into Cinder's eyes and convince her of this as the truth. The younger girl too had been thinking about the past but she'd rather think about the future, especially when it lay right next to her.

"But all because I was beautiful. What if I had been some ugly old hag, or a man? Then what?"

"Then that would have been different," Ruby admitted. "But I'm glad you're not any of those. I'm glad you're you." She turned around to lie on her stomach now, face first on Cinder's warm belly. Cinder's hand resumed it's stroking.

"Hah, do you only value me for my outside appearance?" Cinder breathed out, with a hint of amusement as she let her head sink into the soft pillows, her eyes trained on the canopy of their bed. It was a deep red. Her and Ruby's stuff came mainly in shades of red or black, both girl's liking the same color scheme and making there one less issue on what décor to put in their apartment.

"Your beauty was what captivated me at first, but it was you as a person that captured me for good, like a bird in a cage. You're so talented and smart and charming and you are powerful as well. I don't think there's anything you can mess up. Whatever you do turns out well for you. You're just that kind of person," Ruby expressed with fondness in her big silver eyes.

Cinder let out a chuckle at the girl's fascination with her. "If that's the case, then why am I not the boss of the Grimm anymore?"

Ruby wrinkled up her nose at this. "You know why. It's because I love you."

Cinder closed her eyes at this and let herself fall into another memory.


	7. Cinder's Past

When Cinder started up her gang, it had been with the intention to swiftly become one of the most notorious gangs in all of Remnant's history. And her goal had been achieved rather easily. She was beautiful, powerful, and ambitious, and she used any asset or part of her personality that could help persuade those who stood in her way to either join her or to move to the side if they valued their lives. No one could stand up to her, not even Ozpin and his foolish school of child hunters and huntresses. Not even the Atlasian army with their guns and tanks. Her reign was secure and she controlled nearly every aspect of life in the cities. But, once an empire got too big, it was harder to control it and things slipped through the cracks. After all, it had happened to the Schnee family. Once power hungry monarchs that ruled Atlas, they had been kicked out of their own throne and were now forced to make a decent living by mining and selling dust.

So she knew she could expect trouble once her gang got to be too big. But she never expected trouble to come in the form of a small petite girl with honest eyes and a scythe that she wielded with terrifying ease. Cinder had no idea who the girl was and why she so ardently went after Cinder's gang but she wasn't going to let this girl make a mockery of her. There was no way that Cinder had braved whole armies and governments after her only to be taken down by a mere girl in a corset.

Cinder prepared herself for the inevitable battle that would occur between the two of them. Mentally and physically she trained as one by one her commanders fell to the girl's sharp blade. And when the moment had finally arrived upon the gang leader, she was shocked to find that the girl simply gave up. And why? Because Cinder was  _pretty._

If Cinder had been told by anyone that this would ever happen to her, she would have laughed in their face before she shot them, telling them not to waste her time with stupid tales and ideas. But now it had happened. Cinder was in so much disbelief and shock that even for two months after the initial meeting of the two, after Ruby had signed up to join the gang-yes, the little rascal actually wanted to  _work_  for Cinder now because the villainess was beautiful- Cinder would walk around her headquarters, attend all her meetings and all the evil excursions with a daft and dazed expression on her face. She wouldn't ever speak unless spoken too. That's how much she had been affected by Ruby's change.

But Cinder had been able to eventually snap out of the stupor and come to her senses. She then challenged Ruby to a fight but the girl had stubbornly insisted that she wouldn't dare raise a hand or weapon against Cinder and the match had gone unfulfilled. Which only vexed Cinder more. She couldn't figure this girl out at all. Despite her open and easy to read face, Cinder couldn't understand the motivation for the girl's sudden switch. She had hounded down the Grimm gang relentlessly and now she was working tirelessly for them, helping to ensure the gang succeeded. And with her help the organization saw higher profit margins, for the girl was wickedly talented with her semblance and her weapon. She looked like she would never harm a fly but once she hit a rampage...Cinder was honestly worried and felt a bit bad for the girl's opponents sometimes, who were on the receiving end of her ire.

But did the girl really only give up her quest because Cinder was pretty? This idea plagued Cinder, leaving her restless at night. Then one day she had finally cornered Ruby and demanded to know the truth, about why Ruby was working so hard for the Grimm gang when she had wanted nothing more than to tear them down from their place of power before.

Ruby, looking sheepishly at the floor and rubbing the back of her head, had mumbled out some words that Cinder had been unable to catch.

"What? What is it?" she had snapped, her lack of sleep making her very cranky and short tempered. More than usual. She tapped her nails impatiently against her thigh.

"I, uh, I'm...kind of...in love with you, I think," Ruby had softly said at last, in a timorous voice, and with wide and earnest eyes lifted up now at Cinder.

"Oh," was all Cinder could think to say, her face going blank. And this left her yet again in a flustered stupor for an extended length of time. What was going on? What was the deal with this Ruby girl? How could she be in love with Cinder? Cinder was a villain. One of the worst. She was manipulative, cold hearted and vindictive. She killed others as easily as she breathed. And Ruby was the opposite. She was sweet, kind, and always helping out others. She even picked up insects that found their way inside the gang's hideouts and let them out gently. She was a good person, minus her evil side that came out when she got angry. So what did she see in Cinder that caused her to love the older woman?

Not being able to take this pondering and constant worrying, for Cinder yet again lost more sleep over this, rather than gained sleep like she thought she would once she had accosted Ruby for answers, she approached the girl once more. Ruby was currently wiping down her weapon in the empty henchmen's locker room, trying to remove the last traces of gore on the silver steel.

"Why?" Cinder blurted out, coming to a rest by the girl but careful to keep out of range of her weapon. She saw what the girl could do with it. A professional butcher did less damage to flesh than she did.

"Why what?" Ruby had looked up, cocking her head to her side in confusion. Adorable confusion.  _Gah!_  Cinder had to stop that. Ever since the girl had confessed her love to Cinder, all the black haired woman could do was be super hyper aware of the other girl at all times. It was infuriating. Beyond infuriating!

Cinder felt like a girl with a stupid high school crush. It was totally not like her.

Cinder cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest to get some control over this situation. So she could look as powerful and intimidating as she wanted to feel. "Why do you love me? I'm evil."

"Oh," Ruby said with realization and a smile graced her lips. Lips that Cinder wanted to kiss.  _Not this again!_  The woman thought with a hint of fear and panic. She couldn't fail in love. It was going to make her soft. And a gang leader couldn't be soft. "It's because you're so awesome!" Was Ruby's simple answer, one that did not satisfy Cinder's curiosity.

"Awesome?" Cinder arched a brow. Ruby finished cleaning her weapon and let it fold back into a more manageable shape before she reattached it her hip where she normally carried it.

"Yea." Ruby nodded her head enthusiastically. "You're like female empowerment and stuff. You are a strong independent woman who gets things done her way and I admire that greatly."

"Ruby, I'm sure not many women would agree that I am a suitable role model to look up to," Cinder argued, feeling a sense of relief in her chest. So it seemed the type of love the girl felt for her was admiration. Cinder had no more reason to worry over this issue. Maybe the girl simply wanted to learn to be as strong as Cinder was when it came to using her powers. But then why did Cinder feel a small nag of pain in her chest? Was she sad about something? She shook her head to try to get rid of that sadness. "Anyways, if that is the only reason you joined me...then please leave the gang."'

"Why?" Ruby's brows furrowed up in a pained expression.

"Ruby," Cinder said with a heavy sigh as if this should be obvious. "You are obviously a very talented individual and I don't want you to waste your time in the gang. Sure, you've helped me a lot. But, you're a child. You deserve to have a better future than this."

"But you chose this path for yourself. Why can't I?" Ruby stood up at this, upset.

"Ruby, I didn't as a child dream for this to be my job. Things happened that lead me onto this path. Bad things." Cinder laid a gentle hand on Ruby's shoulder, wondering why she was worried about letting the girl down without hurting her feelings. Normally she would just kick someone out roughly and if they tried to argue with her than she would shoot them, shutting them up for good. "And I don't want you to take the same path as me. You still have time to turn your life around. To use your powers for good. You're just a child."

Ruby's eyes filled with anger. "I'm not a child. Stop calling me that! I'm an adult. I can make my own choices! My own!" Ruby stomped her foot.

Looked like it was time for Cinder to be harsher. "Ruby, no."

"Is this about me liking you?"

"What? No," the change in topic had momentarily thrown Cinder off. "This is about the sake of your future. Choose to do good with your abilities, like I couldn't with mine."

"But I want to work with you. I want to be by your side." Ruby was getting angrier and angrier, something that wasn't good. Cinder didn't want to be in the way of her ire.

"Stop looking up to me. You're delusional. Brain washed by my beauty," Cinder snorted.

"I...it's not like that. I want to help you. You said you didn't have a choice to becoming this villain...and I want to change that. I want you to have a normal life too. No one should be forced into a life choice they don't want."

"You are naive then if you think that!" Cinder spat back, unable to keep her cool. She was trying to let Ruby down easily but it wasn't working out. "Not everyone can have a fairy tale ending! A fairy tale story where a prince comes in and swoops up the princess in her arms and takes her away from the evil stepmother. My path has been set. And I like it the way it is." Cinder said this through gritted teeth. "I enjoy watching the fear dawn on people's faces when they see me enter a room. I enjoy the scent of warm blood as it gushes out of their bodies. I enjoy ripping money from helpless hands!" She placed a hand to her chest, her breath heaving up and down in exertion after nearly screaming this out.

"And maybe I do too!" Ruby shot back, saying something that Cinder hadn't suspected to be true of the girl. "Maybe I like being able to fight others, to be some sort of use to someone. For too long everyone has cast me aside because of the fact that I'm too young, or too dainty looking to do anything. They don't ever let me do anything, fearing I will hurt myself. I had dreams too. I wanted to be a huntress but I was rejected," the girl's anger had melted into something bluer, into a sadness that made the corner of her eyes leak. "And so here, at least I can do something. I can use my abilities. That's all I ever wanted."

Cinder was touched by the girl's speech but she had to remain tough and kept her voice harsh. "Ruby, you can still achieve that dream. You still have time to make good-"

"But I don't want it anymore. Now, more than ever I want...you, more than I've ever wanted anything else," Ruby said softly and with bashfulness. This made Cinder's face feel warm and her heart thump just a bit harder in her chest. "You're my dream," Ruby looked up at this, chuckling awkwardly. "Sorry, that...was really corny."

"No, it's alright. I liked it," Cinder blurted out before she could even stop herself. This made her face flush fully. She wasn't one to do that and so she felt even more embarrassed that she was blushing and thus blushed harder for it.

"Haha, sorry for flustering you. But you look so cute right now," Ruby smiled and laughed to herself, ruffling the back of her head sheepishly.

Cinder felt something stir in her that she thought never would again and she reached out one leather clad hand to grasp Ruby's soft cheek in it. "Ruby, it is you who is the cute one."

"Stop that, you're going to embarrass me to death," the girl said but in a manner that said she didn't really mind the words as much as she claimed to.

"I'm going to kiss you now Ruby," Cinder announced and the smaller girl's eyes got wide at this as an "eh?" cutely left her lips. "You said you loved me, but I need to check if you meant that and not admiration love."  _And also to see if I harbor feelings for you of the romantic kind,_  Cinder said to herself, before she slowly pulled Ruby's face up to hers, giving the girl enough time to back out if she wanted to. But the girl merely maintained eye contact with her, lips parted in anticipation. When the two of their lips met only then did Ruby's eyes close.

The kiss was chaste and short and when Cinder pulled away she could feel her heart soaring in her chest. The kiss felt right. So that had confirmed her suspicions. She did indeed harbor something for Ruby. If not love than maybe lust? Or maybe it was love masquerading as lust? Only time would tell. And further kissing.

Ruby's eyes had softly fluttered up at this, roses blossoming on her cheeks. "Did that prove my feelings for you? When I said I loved you I meant...you know...in the kissing way," Ruby stammered, looking off to the side, unable to hold her gaze even with Cinder's.

"Then it's a good thing it seems I like kissing you," Cinder whispered and brought her lips to Ruby's trembling ones. The girl got more bold, letting her hands come up to clutch at Cinder's shoulders, the woman letting her free hand go to the back of Ruby's neck. They than had spent the better portion of the afternoon just making out.

Cinder's mouth watered at that memory.

"Hey, don't go off falling asleep on me!" Ruby pouted, slapping Cinder hard on the cheek to wake her up.

"I wasn't sleeping!" Cinder clarified, rubbing her red cheek, and jerking out of her recollections.

"Yes you were. And you were drooling!" Ruby drew herself closer to Cinder's face. The two of them were still on the bed where they had been lounging on before, thinking about the past. "Were you cheating on me? Were you thinking of someone else?"

Cinder let out a chuckle at that. There was no way she would do that but she didn't say that. "And what if I was?" was her coy question. She knew this would rile Ruby up. Just what Cinder wanted.

"Then I'll just have to make sure to erase your thoughts off of them with my body!" Ruby insisted and immediately straddled Cinder's waist, pinning the older woman's arms above her head. "I'm not going to lose you to them!"

"Then show me how much you love me, because right now I'm not very convinced," Cinder taunted, riling up the girl even more.

Ruby let out a growl and bit down hard on Cinder's collarbone, making the woman arch up with a barely stifled groan on her lips.

Yes, the memory of her and Ruby's kiss was sweet, but Cinder much preferred the girl's more aggressive actions, like spice to the sweet fluffy topping of whipped cream. And so she surrendered herself to the present.


	8. A Date with a Bang

Ruby and Cinder were walking hand in hand down a main street in the city. Their hands were swinging together and Ruby was humming merrily to herself. She and Cinder had finally found time in their hectic schedule in order to go out on a proper date. Right now the two of them were dressed up nicely. Ruby in a white button down shirt and plaid red skirt and Cinder in a long red dress with a slit on the side to showcase a glimpse of her pale and smooth thigh, one that Ruby's gaze would return to ever so often. She was trying to hide the fact that she was looking but she wasn't doing a good job because Cinder noticed, but she just laughed to herself softly, not choosing to mention this. She would tempt and taunt Ruby purposefully with her body and get her energized for the later portion of the date that would be spent in much more private and closed quarters. She couldn't wait for that fun part. She was going to make Ruby scream out loud.

"So, what's the restaurant we are going over to?" Cinder asked as way of conversation. Ruby had insisted on keeping the details of the date a secret. Not that she was any good at keeping secrets. Cinder already had an idea of what exactly they would be doing today. Dinner and then a movie. She knew it was going to be an action movie about gangsters, but she didn't know where dinner would be held.

"It's a really good place," Ruby said as they paused to wait for the walk sign before crossing the street. People gave them appreciative looks. They both looked good. Cinder, a seductress in her red dress and with her hair in an updo, and Ruby cute in her short skirt. Very short. Suddenly Cinder felt a flare of protectiveness. How dare they look at  _her_  Ruby like this. Her fingers tightened on the purse in her hold. She was half tempted to pull out the gun there and fire off a couple of rounds into the air, scaring off the people and leaving the two girl's with no staring as they walked to the restaurant.

Ruby was having much the same thoughts. Her hand tightened over Cinder's, the older woman's grip mimicking hers. How dare people look with dirty eyes at  _her_  Cinder! Ruby was contemplating pulling out her scythe which had been packed neatly into the little tote bag slung over her shoulder. As soon as she showed it people would run because they knew by now that the Grimm leader was one who carried a scythe, even if they didn't know her face. Both girl's were glaring evilly at the people as they passed them by and this freaked out the people so much that they dropped their eyes and began to walk on the other side of the street to avoid getting so violently stared at that they could feel the blades the women wanted to plunge into their backs without the two even having to do anything.

"It's just a small place not far from here," Ruby answered Cinder vaguely as she eyed a man next to her who gulped and dove into a potted plant to avoid her.

"Come now, Ruby. Out with it. We both know you want to tell me," Cinder said with a playful lithe to her voice, death glaring another man who ran out into traffic to get as far from her as he could. There was a screech of tires and a loud scream and Cinder redirected her gaze to someone else.

"Noooooo," Ruby insisted, this time her eyes landing on a man peering out the window. Quickly he jerked back and closed the shades.

"Ruby," Cinder pouted. "Stop being so mean and tell me." The two girl's tone of voice was completely contradictory from the hard looks they were giving everyone on the street.

The two girls, satisfied that the people were leaving them alone and had effectively cleared out the street, sniffed in unison before turning their eyes back to one another, smiles on their lips.

_Now she'll be safe from those lecherous stares!_  They thought in unison.

"But if I tell you, then what's the fun. It's supposed to be a surprise date. Emphasis on the surprise part."

It seemed like Ruby was going to play hard. Nothing that Cinder couldn't deal with. "Please Ruby?" she stuck out her bottom lip and batted her full lashes at the girl. This had the intended affect because Ruby's resolve hiccuped. "Well...I mean, I can't tell you." She didn't say this as insistently as before.

"Please? Ruby I need to know," Cinder husked and rubbed circles on the back of Ruby's hand with her thumb. The girl began to blush and Cinder knew she just needed to give her one last push before she caved in. She brought her mouth closer to her ear but before she could so much as say a single word, Ruby's Scroll went off.

Ruby let out a little grumble. "What now?" She pulled her hand away from Cinder's in order to pull out her Scroll. Looking at the caller id, a frown grew on her lips. Cinder already knew who it was that was calling without having to look.

"Mercury...this better be damn good if you're calling to interrupt my date time," Ruby's voice was low.

"It is boss. I swear! And you know I wouldn't usually call you on your date since last time I did you gave me a date with your fists," at this Mercury winced at the memory but shouldered on. His face had looked like it had gotten rammed by a truck. "But there's been an attack. One of our gang busts went sour because some of the men got spotted by some huntress from Beacon academy!"

"What? Which operation is this?" Ruby began to rub the bridge of her nose, getting stressed already. She could feel her blood pressure rising. There was no way this could be happening. All this time spent waiting for a date with Cinder and it was interrupted by some idiot huntress.

"The one by Ronald street."

"I sent twenty men for that one. How are they getting taken down by  _one_  woman?"

"They can barely hold her off, because their getting distracted by her giant boobs and are unable to counter attack her attacks!"

Ruby resisted the urge to slap herself in the face at her henchmens stupidity. "Fine, I'm on my way. I'll take her out."

Then she hung up and rolled back her shoulders, getting out of her date mindset and into her battle one. "What's the situation?" Cinder asked, loathe to see her girlfriend go before they could even make it to the restaurant.

"Some huntress is busting our operation and the men we hired seem to have dicks for brains because their too busy ogling her to hit her right." Ruby let out a sigh. "I won't be long. If it's one then I won't even have to worry about breaking out a sweat."

"And I suppose you want me to stay here?" Cinder said with a bit of a smile. "I would like to help you with your fights, if-"

"Not now Cinder, we already had this discussion and my position stays the same on the issue," Ruby gave Cinder a hard look to which the woman shrugged at. Ruby was really stubborn when she wanted to be.

"Alright," Cinder spoke. If Ruby was going to make her wait then perhaps she could do it at the restaurant they were supposed to be at. "Just tell me the restaurant's name and I'll wait for you there." She said this casually and smoothly.

"It's just down the block. It's called-" Ruby paused at this, closing her mouth before turning narrowed eyes at Cinder. "Oh, you're good. You almost got me there. Later." And then with that Ruby was gone, a lone rose petal landing in Cinder's outstretched hand due to her activated semblance.

"Darn. I almost got her," Cinder mussed with a sigh before she lifted the petal up to her nose and took a deep inhalation. It smelled sweet and delicate like Ruby did. "Hurry up," Cinder whispered to the petal. "I'm hungry." And Cinder wasn't referring to food.

* * *

Ruby made her way over to where the gang had been positioned. The smell of fire reached her nose, mixed in with the powdery residue that hung in the air after a weapon utilizing dust was fired. She stopped on top of the warehouse that overlooked the scene below her. Spread out on the concrete parking lot by the warehouse were her men, most of them knocked out by the huntress who was nowhere to be seen. But the fires she had caused raged on in small batches, one of them edging dangerously into becoming larger. The truck that was meant to be loaded up with dust that had been stolen from the Schnee company was left idling, the cases of dust spread haphazardly around, colorful powder on the ground.  _Idiot. The dust can catch on fire. The huntress should have been more careful with it._

Checking that the coast was clear, Ruby dropped twenty feet to the ground, rushing towards the spilled dust. Already one of the flames had gotten closer to it, and wishing she had her cloak, the younger girl settled for stripping one of her unconscious workers free of his jacket and using it to swat the fire with. The flames were hot and Ruby's cheeks grew warm from the closeness. But with strong waves of her hand she was able to put it out. She was wondering if she should put the others out too when there was the sound of a gun going off inside the warehouse. Ruby turned to look at it, the door cracked partially open into the dark interior. She wondered if that was the huntress. There was a louder gun shot this time, closer, and then a cry. "Out with a bang!" At that a Grimm gang member crashed through the doors, knocking them wide open before he skidded to a stop in front of Ruby's feet where he lay still.

"Well, well. Looks like there's someone else here. You also part of this operation?" asked the huntress, cracking her knuckles and gesturing to the knocked out men on the concrete as she exited the shadows of the warehouse. The shadows melted off of her face, leaving Ruby with a clear look as to who it was. She had changed since Ruby had last seen her. She was taller and her outfit was really skimpy, her boobs practically spilling out of her thin tank top. Were those the uniforms that Beacon issued? If so, then Ruby was glad she hadn't gone there.

"Yang?" she questioned hesitantly.

This paused the girl's cocky walk towards the parking lot. Her eyebrows rose up and she lifted the shades off of her eyes. "Holy shit-Ruby, that's you? Holy hell I couldn't tell. These sunglasses make everyone look different!"

"Yang!" Ruby rushed over and hugged her sister, the blonde nearly stumbling under the force of Ruby's hug. But she went with it, stepping back two steps to regain her balance before picking her sister up in a bear hug and spinning her around.

"Ruby!"


	9. Family Reunions Are Hard

"Yang, it's so nice to see you!" Ruby admitted as Yang set her sister down after twirling her around forty six times in a row.

"Same!" Yang exclaimed happily, stemming her hands on her hips. They smiled at each other goofy, flowers and sparkles floating around them before Yang lifted up her fist and punched Ruby on the top of the head.

"Ow! Yang, what was that for?" Ruby whined, as both hands came up to her head to clutch at the hurt spot.

"Ruby, where the hell were you all this time! Me and dad have been worried out of our minds over you! You just disappeared on us!"

"I didn't mean to!" Ruby said, removing her hands from her head, the pain having subsided now. This comment went largely ignored by the blonde who knocked her sister on the top of her head again. This time harder. "Ouch! Yang!" Ruby's hands flew back up to her head and tears came into her eyes. Yang just continued her diatribe.

"And you didn't even call us or anything to reassure us you were okay. We wouldn't mind you running away so much if you just checked in with us and let us know everything was okay! That would have been the cool thing to do it, but nooooo, you didn't even do it!"

"Yang, it was kind of a complicated situation. I meant to call. Really, I did!" Ruby grabbed her sister by her shoulder's and tried to shake her to get her attention but the blonde was looking off to the side, her left hand in the air, fingers rising as she ticked off some things one by one. It was like she was talking more to herself and Ruby's shaking did nothing to the girl.

"Firstly, I don't even understand why you would run away? Did you not love me and dad anymore? Or Zwei? Secondly, you took all the cookies in the house when you left. And you know how much I love my sweets, even though I don't actively advertise it like you do. Thirdly, you left a mess in your room before you ran away. Didn't you even think to be considerate enough to at least clean it up? That way me and dad wouldn't have to cry when we cleaned it up while we waited for you to come back. Fourthly, you didn't take Zwei on a walk out like we agreed to so he pissed all over my boots. My good boots. It took me forever to clean them. And lastly," at this Yang took a deep breath of air so that her rant could continue. "Do you  _really_  not love us? Is that why you left without a word for a whole friggen year!?" Yang finished, and raised her last finger, before all of them curled into a fist and she punched Ruby on the top of her head for a third time.

"Yang, would you quit that!" Ruby cried out, getting a touch annoyed with her older sister now. She could feel a bump growing on her skull. "Can you just let me speak?"

Yang let out a petulant huff. "Fine," she blew up a long strand of her blonde hair.

Ruby let out a sigh herself, gave her head bump another rub and then slowly started her explanation. "It was never supposed to be like this. When I left the house that day it was for a short trip. It was to send in my application for Beacon Academy."

"You applied there?" Yang interrupted and Ruby let out a "Yang! Let me tell the story!" so the blonde complied and shut up.

"It was my dream to be a student there. But I got rejected because I was too young. So I got upset. I took to kicking some trash cans around to get rid of my anger when I overheard some evil schemes. I decided to stop them in order to impress the headmaster Ozpin. But...he wasn't impressed." Ruby looked off sadly to the side before she continued. "So I fought some more bad guys. That too didn't work out too well. And I got angrier and angrier at the rejections. I then took it upon myself to hunt down the entirety of this gang and their head honchos."

Yang let out a low whistle. "That's pretty impressive sis. But it doesn't explain why you were gone. Or why you couldn't give me and dad a quick call or even an 'ok' text. Literally two letters."

Ruby cringed guilty. "Well, I got kind of wrapped up with my mission to the point that I slept on city sidewalks, ate out of trash cans and didn't even bathe all so I could find them. It was rough. I almost got offed like two times while I was out looking for them. I had to live a life on the run and I didn't want them to be led to my house, to you and dad and Zwei, so I didn't go back home."

"That is gross," Yang commented honestly, the fact that Ruby had nearly died twice going over her blonde head. "I know you're a teenager but you need to take care of your body hygiene."

Ruby shot her sister a look. She was telling her about how she fought a gang of murderers, having come close to death twice, and slept out in the cold weather, possibly at risk of getting sick from the bad shelter and the rotten food she ate, and her sister was more worried about Ruby not showering? Ruby wondered once again how her sister had gotten into Beacon with her low IQ and propensity for stupidity. Proof of school unfairness. Yang had probably slept her way in. She'd done it several times before, in order to get things she wanted. Once to get into a good middle school. Another time to get into a club. And yet another time just to merely get free food from the guy at the street cart. The food wasn't even that good, so Ruby had no idea why her sister had wanted it badly enough to sleep with the guy.

Ruby merely sighed and continued on. "And when I finally got to the boss battle, things didn't quite end as I expected them too." Oh boy, here came the hard to explain part."Ikindafellinloveatfirstsightwiththeevilbossandjoinedhergangandthenbecameleaderofit!" Ruby said in one big breath, letting out a big relieved gasp when she finished.

"You joined a gang!" Yang cried out, her purple eyes wide in shock. "And now you're the leader of it! And in love with the evil ex-boss!" Yang's hands went up to her hair and she tugged on it to make sure she wasn't dreaming. "Ruby, do you know how wrong this is! You've turned to a life of evil! Of crime! Why would you do that!"

"I told you it was complicated. You wouldn't understand it, as you've never been in love before!" Ruby crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.

"I  _so_  have been in love! But never with a villain! You stop it right now. You drop everything you're doing and come home!" Yang pointed at the ground, angry at her little sister's antics.

"No!"

"You do it, or so help me-!" Yang let the threat hang in the air.

"You don't scare me anymore!" Ruby said, sticking out her tongue at Yang. This only made the blonde more upset.

"Ruby Robin Rose!" Yang used Ruby's full name and the brunette now knew the girl was really mad at her. "You will come with me right this instant. It's time for you to stop playing these childish games of running a gang and go back to your school!"

"They are not games! I've managed to expand the gang's influences even further than they've ever been before. I'm at the top of my world right now, Yang, and I'm not coming home because I have my own home, with my own people who love and care for me!"

Yang let out an angry gasp. "Ruby, stop being stubborn! And come home. To your  _real_  home. If you won't then I'll force you myself."

"You can't make me."

"Can too!" Yang argued back childishly. She may be two years older than Ruby but other than her body, she really wasn't any more mature.

"I'm not going back, Yang." Ruby said this more soberly, her voice suddenly soft. She dropped her hands to her side. "This city is my home now. This gang is my life. I have people who look up to me. Who rely on me. Which was more than what you or dad or my old friend's ever expected of me. So, I'm sorry Yang. But I can't go back with you."

The words struck Yang hard and she tried hard not to let her mouth curl into a sour frown. What had happened to her sister to make her like this? Was she brainwashed? It didn't matter, Yang would find a way to bring her baby sister back eventually. "I see." She said, unable to stop the sadness from leaking into her voice.

"I'm sorry that that's how it is, but...things have changed," Ruby placed a warm hand on her sister's arm. She let a wry smile fill her face and Yang tried to smile back but failed. "And now, since you've attacked my gang, and ruined the goods we were trying to steal, I'm afraid you leave me with no choice."

"What?" Yang's head jerked up at this, uncertain that what she had just heard had really come from her sister's mouth. Ruby's hand had left her arm and the girl was backing up to make space for Crescent Rose, pulling out her scythe from her bag, the weapon coming to full size in front of her. She brandished it to her left, letting the gleam of the blade catch in the sun. Ruby had built this weapon herself and had added more features to it. Yang never remembered it being this big before.

Yang crooked a finger at it, her arm too limp with stupefaction to successfully lift it up fully. "Uh, Ruby, what is that?"

"You know what it is, silly," Ruby said, but there was no smile to her words. "It's Crescent Rose. You saw me build it myself. I've merely added additions to it to make it better. More durable. And I clean it constantly, of course. You'd be surprised how much it can wear down. Human flesh and bone is really bad for keeping the blade sharp."

"Human flesh and bone?" Yang echoed, her words sticking in her dry throat. Was her sister...a killer?

Ruby let out a sigh at this. "Look, quit trying to stall me Yang. It's bad enough I have to do this to my own sister without you dragging this out."

Yang felt a cold sweat break out on her skin and she took two steps back, her knees feeling too weak to support her weight so she had to sit down onto the ground with a harsh thud, the concrete jarring her spine bone.

"Ruby, don't be ri-ridicolous," Yang stammered out, completely unnerved by her sister's neutral expression. The girl was edging towards her, her scythe by her side, reflecting the pallid and sweaty face of Yang. "I'm your sister..-why, why are you doing this?"

Ruby clicked her tongue, losing patience for her sister's stupidity and slowness. "You attacked my operation. And I need to send a message. No huntress or hunter who foils my plans will get away with it. Including, sisters," Ruby hissed the last word out and placed the tip of her blade under Yang's chin, lifting her face up so she could see the fear in her sister's face. She really didn't want to hurt her sister, but she was the boss of the Grimm. She had a role to fulfill. And she was going to do. Do it for Cinder.

"Ruby!" the panicked cry ripped from Yang's mouth but she made no move. She was too paralyzed by shock and fear. What had happened to her sister? She knew the girl had anger issues but this was something else. She was deranged! Deranged!

Ruby smiled now, something cute and innocent, keeping in mind what Cinder had said about how smiles could scare her opponents more than her trying to act tough could. "Yang!"

"Ruby!" Yang cried out with more force this time.

"Yang!" Ruby sang back and then lifted the blade from Yang's neck, and over her head before she swung it down.

"RUBY!"

A flock of birds nearby spiraled up and into the air, losing feathers from how quickly they had risen into the air, startled by the pain filled screams that followed the utterance of that name.


	10. Too Many Sweets Can be a Bad Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: To balance out the harsh last chapter, here's one that's sweeter.

"Ruby."

"No."

"Ruby." A stern voice, an even sterner look accompanying it. Ruby ignored both.

"No."

A sigh of exasperation. "If it hurts we need to go get help."

"No. I don't need to. I can take the pain. I'm a big girl!" Ruby insisted and then winced in pain as her loud words caused her jaw to throb angrily.

"Ruby, it's only going to get worse," Cinder gently insisted, trying to reach over the table to touch Ruby on the hand but the girl turned her back to her girlfriend and crossed her arms over her chest. Cinder sighed. "Honestly, you can kill people without batting an eye but you don't want to go to a  _dentist?_ "

"I'm not scared or anything of them," Ruby said, which Cinder knew definitely confirmed that she was. "I just don't like their stupid looking tools and their stupid little music that they play in the waiting rooms."

Cinder rubbed the bridge of her nose. How could she convince Ruby? She would have to choose her words carefully. "Ruby. You're whole mouth could get infected from this. It looks bad. You're whole cheek is already inflamed and swollen and it's only going to get worse from there."

Ruby shrugged violently. "So?"

That approach-the rational one- wasn't working. So it was time to move onto another. The what-would-everyone-think-if-the-boss-looked-like-a-chipmunk approach. "Ruby, what would your henchmen think of their boss if they saw she looked like a chipmunk. What would your enemies think?"

Ruby shrugged again, her shoulders stabbing the air. "I can always wear a mask. Besides, you said it was cute."

Well, that approach didn't work either. Onto the next one.

"Ruby, how will you eat your cookies?"

She knew this got the girl's attention because she stiffed up. "The normal way, like I usually do." Her voice was a bit tight and defensive.

"Hmm, you and I both know that it won't work like that. You need to use both sides of your mouth to enjoy a cookie to the fullest. And your toothache won't let you do that." Cinder used a coy tone of voice to say this, leaning more over the table so Ruby could hear her clearly.

Ruby's shoulder's shook with annoyance and Cinder pressed on, knowing she could get her to break.

"And if you can't eat cookies, then you know that it means other people will be able to do so. They'll take all the cookies away from you."

She could hear a frustrated growl come from Ruby. "Fine! Fine!" she threw her hands up in the air. "I'll go to the stupid-ouch!-dentist," Ruby quieted down after her loud cry of ouch because she had aggravated her tooth by talking loudly.

"I'll set an appointment, boss," Cinder got up from the table and went to go schedule one.

"There's no need to rush," Ruby called after her, as she eyed how quickly Cinder moved to the phone. But the woman was gone and Ruby was alone in her room, rubbing her swollen cheek. "Maybe it does hurt. A little." She winced. "Okay. A lot." She liked pain but only if Cinder gave it to her. And this tooth most certainly wasn't Cinder so it had to go.

* * *

A very disgruntled Cinder opened the door of the car standing outside the office building with one hand as she held up a very out of it Ruby with her other. The girl was smiling and starry eyed, her eyes not focusing on any one spot. "Cinder," she slurred, tugging on the woman's shirt as said woman gently tried to get Ruby to sit in the backseat without squirming so she could buckle her in. It wasn't working so well. "Cinder. Cinder," Ruby slurred again, giggling at the end when Cinder snapped out an irritated "what?"

"You're very pretty," Ruby said, giggling and grabbing her blushing cheeks as if not able to believe she had just said that out loud. She wiggled her body back and forth at this.

"Yes Ruby, you've only said that a million times. Now would you sit still? I'm trying to get you in the car." Cinder tugged the seatbelt around the girl's waist but she was sliding down in the seat to the floor, into a boneless pile of a person.

"But I'd much rather get in you," Ruby pointed out.

"Ruby, now is not the time for flirting. We need to leave before the police come," Cinder grunted out as she pulled Ruby up by her armpits and sat her back down.

"The police?" Ruby asked, cocking her head to hear what more Cinder had to say but misjudged how far to tilt it and smacked Cinder right in the nose.

"Ruby!" Cinder cried out, grabbing her offended nose and pushing Ruby's head upright with her other hand.

"That's my name!" the girl giggled and let her hand join the one that was on her head. She curled her fingers around it and brought Cinder's hand so close into her sight of vision that her nose was pressed up against the warm flesh. "You're hands are so, so, nice. I know where I'd like them."

Cinder let out a disgruntled sigh. It was bad enough dealing with a loopy Ruby. Now she was both loopy and horny. She tried to free her hand but the girl was too strong for this. "Ruby let go of my hand. We're going to get in trouble if we don't go soon."

"Where are we going? Is it to bed?" Ruby asked as she began to lick and nibble at the back of Cinder's hand like it was a cookie.

"Yes Ruby, to bed. Just sit still." Cinder could hear an explosion behind her go off and she cringed. The wail of approaching sirens was distant for now but soon it would get louder.

"Uh, Cinder, is everything alright there? Are we good to go?" Mercury asked from the front seat, craning his head over his shoulder.

"You know what, yea. Just hit the gas," Cinder instructed, shoving Ruby over easily and pulling herself into the back seat, hooking the door closed behind her with her heel. She gave up on buckling the girl in. Surely she'd be fine.

"Got it," Mercury hit the gas and the car lurched forward and away from the wreck that was left of the dentist's office.

"Oh wow, that place has pretty fireworks," Ruby commented as she sat up and looked out the back window. She was seeing the flaming dentist's office, something she herself caused to happen but probably wasn't very aware of.

"That's not fireworks," Cinder told her, sitting up properly on her seat too.

"Then what is it?"

"You set the place on fire."

"I did?" Ruby's drugged face tried to make a surprised expression but it only made her look like she had to take a shit.

"Yes, you got upset when you woke up from the anesthesia after your tooth got taken out. You were scared that the dentist was a monster and took out your scythe and started hacking things and people to pieces. And then I had to set the place on fire so that there wouldn't be a crime scene," Cinder explained.

"Wow." Ruby shook her head. "I can't believe you did that Cinder. How mean of you!"

Cinder tsked angrily. "I wasn't the one who went crazy-"

But Ruby was already off on a different topic. "Can we make out now?"

"No." Was the flat answer.

"Not even a little?" Ruby pouted, clasping her hands in front of her chest and sticking out her bottom lip.

"No."

"Aww, you're so mean. Super meany Cinder!" Ruby began to swing her legs back and forth petulantly on the seat. "Mercury, do something about Cinder!" the girl kicked the back of the driver's seat and Mercury went face first into the wheel. The car swerved to the right into a water hydrant as Cinder let out an angry cry of "Ruby!"

That was the last time Cinder offered to go with Ruby to the dentist. From then on the woman put a restriction on how many cookies Ruby could eat so she wouldn't get another cavity. And she made sure the girl thoroughly brushed her teeth each night and day. Ruby wasn't too ecstatic about the idea.


	11. An Obligatory Trip to the Beach

"We're finally here! The beach!" Ruby cheered as soon as she stepped out of the black van that had brought her and several other gang members to the beach. She didn't even wait for the van to fully park before she jumped out, a colorful beach umbrella under her arm and folding chair in the other.

"Ruby, wait!" Cinder cried out after the girl but she was already a red black blur, kicking up clouds of sand as she sped towards the water, causing the more slowly walking people to get covered by the dust she left in her wake. Cinder sighed and let herself more slowly out of the car. She shouldn't be shocked by Ruby's impatience. The girl had wanted to go to the beach since the first time the weather got the least bit sunny. But there was barely any time with all the work she had to do so it was only now that Ruby had a full day to enjoy the nice weather.

"Boss is sure happy to be here," Emerald commented. The green haired woman, who was Cinder's personal assistant just like Mercury was more or less Ruby's, had come on the trip to protect the dark haired woman. In fact, another two to three vans pulled up into the beach's parking lot, members of the Grimm gang hopping out, clad in their usual black. But to fit better into the environment, they were wearing swim trunks along with their Grimm masks which sported sunglasses on them.

"Secure the perimeter of the beach," Cinder instructed the three dozen men. "I want men stationed in the parking lot, inspecting those who arrive and the goods they carry. I want men around the public restrooms, making sure that the people there do not harm Ruby when she goes to use the bathroom. And I want men next to and near the water and our blanket. But I don't want to see any of you, nor do I want to hear you unless it's necessary. Am I clear?"

"Yes!" The men gave quick salutes to Cinder before dividing themselves into groups and delegating the tasks among themselves. Cinder had been their boss once before and they still respected her highly, following her orders without question.

"Emerald, Mercury," Cinder now turned to the two who had driven here with her and Ruby. "Carry this stuff over to the beach. Quickly, before Ruby gets carried away. She tends to do that if you leave her for too long in an excitable state by herself." Emerald nodded her head and piled on several bags holding towels, food, and beach games, onto her shoulders. Mercury popped out of the driver's seat and took the folded chairs, the cooler of drinks, and another umbrella. Cinder led the way to the beach empty handed, her flip flops mostly protecting her feet from the burning sand.

The water wasn't far from the parking lot but it took a while to reach, the sand dunes slowing them down. When they got closer to the water, Cinder noticed that Ruby had already set up her rainbow colored umbrella and folding chair, and discarded her sleeveless red hoodie top and shorts, no doubt so she could go into the water.

"Set up the stuff here," Cinder pointed at the spot with the stuff. "I'm going to go fetch Ruby or else she'll never think to put sunscreen on." Mercury and Emerald nodded their heads and got to work, discussing among themselves on the best way to position the objects.

Cinder took off her flip flops and held them up in one hand, letting her soles hit the cooler and more compact sand that lay next to the water. She could see Ruby already thigh deep in the waves, splashing the water when a tide would hit her. "Ruby!" Cinder waved her free hand as she called out, trying to get the girl's attention.

"Cinder! Come in, the water's just right!" Ruby invited over, her face one of clear and open joy. She was like a little kid upon waking up on Christmas and finding presents under their tree. Cinder hated to cut that joy short but she had to put sunscreen on Ruby's skin. The girl was extremely sensitive. Her fair skin would burn and then Ruby would be in pain and Cinder didn't want that.

"You have to put sunscreen on first!" Cinder told her and she could see Ruby's shoulders slump down a bit. "Aw, but I just got in here."

"Ruby, no. You know what happens when you don't put sunscreen on before going into the water."

"But I waited so long for this!"

"If you've waited three months for this, you can wait five minutes more. The beach is not going anywhere." Cinder hated being stern with the younger girl, it made her feel like a mother (ugh, something that Cinder did not want to think about, especially about how Ruby was ten years her junior) but sometimes Ruby was too stubborn for her own good, or did things that she shouldn't.

"Fine," Ruby huffed and stomped out of the water towards Cinder. The girl was wet and cold as Cinder draped an arm around her shoulder, the two walking back to where a giant blanket had been spread out by Mercury and Emerald, the two who had already shed their outer clothes and were in their respective bathing suits. Emerald was wearing a pale green bikini and shades on her nose. Mercury was wearing a pair of gray speedo's and his metal legs gleamed in the sun. When Ruby saw him she let out a laugh and pointed at his getup. "Where'd you get those lame speedos from?"

Mercury's cheeks flushed in embarrassment but he didn't dare reprimand his boss for the comment. "I've never been to the beach before, so my mom helped pick them out for me."

This made Ruby laugh even more and even Cinder and Emerald were letting out a couple of snickers, looking at him with amusement in their eyes. "Who even shops with their mom anymore!" Ruby blubbered out from between laughs.

Mercury's embarrassment only grew but he could not say anything about it or risk angering the boss. "The stuff is all in place." He tried to change the topic as his hands not so sneakily made to cover his speedos.

"Pass me the sunscreen, and a towel," Cinder held out her hand to Emerald who pulled out the required items from one of the bags. "Ruby, turn around." Ruby did so obediently, sitting down cross legged on the blanket as Cinder took to drying her shoulders, chest, arms, and back, so that she could have a dry surface to rub the lotion on. Ruby simply looked adorable in her small black bikini with the red rose petals down the side. Cinder gently covered all the needed area and as soon as she was done, Ruby bolted up, ready to dive into the sea again.

"Ruby, wait. You need to let it dry." Ruby let out a huff but sat back down, wiggling around impatiently. "Here, you can help me do my back. It'll take your mind off of the ocean for a bit." Cinder took off her tank top, revealing to all her bikini top. It was red with gold swirls and it didn't cover much of her cleavage leaving little to the imagination. Normally Ruby would have been all over Cinder at just the sight, but the girl was too distracted by the urge to run into the water and so she merely spread the lotion on Cinder's back obediently, looking back and forth from Cinder's skin to the waters.

A small frown housed itself on Cinder's lips. Hmm, maybe she could fix this somehow? "Do my chest too." She turned around so that Ruby could have a more generous view of her chest but the girl simply rubbed the lotion on, not even attempting to sneak a little touch. Cinder's frown deepened, but she resolved to put the issue to the back of her mind, confident that once Ruby had gotten the beach out of her system, Cinder could get her daily dose of Ruby.

"Can I go now?" Ruby asked Cinder, nearly bouncing on her toes and eyes wide and pleading. Cinder was tempted not to let her go. She really wanted to do something to get Ruby out of that bikini, but she supposed it would have to wait later. "Go ahead."

"Yay!" the words were barely out of Ruby's mouth before the girl rushed to the water, whooping loudly and startling the people around her.

"Mercury, Emerald, go after her and make sure she doesn't get too out of hand, or bored. I'm going to tan in the meanwhile. And no interruptions."

"Sure thing," Emerald nodded her head but Mercury didn't look so taken with the idea. "But, the salt water will get into my legs and rust them. I just got new ones after Ruby drove over them last time."

Cinder arched a brow. "Mercury, do I pay you to complain?"

The gray haired man paused, unsure if this was a trick question or not. "Uh, nooo?" he said at last, confused.

"That's right, I don't. So go out there and play in the water with Ruby."

"Right." Was his downcast reply.

Emerald took Mercury by the elbow and led him towards the water. Cinder then took to relaxing herself on the blanket and curling up her hair into an updo so that she could tan her back more easily.

Ruby was excited to see Mercury and Emerald join her. "Come on into the water guys. It's great!"

The trio then spent the good portion of the day playing around. Ruby took to challenging them to a swimming competition to a small island away from the shore, which she won and which almost made Mercury drown as his legs short circuited. Emerald had to revive him and Ruby had immediately demanded the trio to have a splashing fight (which she assured wouldn't lead to Mercury drowning) in which she splashed such giant waves of water that she knocked both of them underwater several times, the waves easily dwarfing them and pounding onto the shore. It scared some of the people away because they thought a tsunami or something was coming, but it was only Ruby, whirling around the water like a dervish with a light giggle.

Then after that it had been time for a snack break, which Mercury and Emerald couldn't be happier about. Keeping up with the boss was rough on them, the girl having insane strength and energy in her body. Cinder pulled out the wrapped sandwiches for them and the chilled drinks, and the quartet ate as they talked. Well, Ruby talked. She was all words and excitement, going on and on about how much fun she had so far. Cinder was glad to see the girl ecstatic, and she lapped up her joyful expression like a thirsty man in a desert.

While they sat, one of the couples who were playing with a frisbee not so far away from the gang's blanket, had their frisbee sail out of their reach. It sailed towards the back of Ruby's head, and would no doubt hit her before one of the duo could grab it back. Before they could yell out a warning, there was the sound of a bullet firing and the frisbee went straight to the ground, a smoking hole in it. The couple startled, shocked by this and turned to their left to see a man in black shorts and a Grimm mask wearing sunglasses, settle down back into the sand pit he had dug for himself, a gun in one hand and walkie talkie in the other as the sand slowly poured over him and began covering him once more. "Threat eliminated," he reported into it, slowly disappearing under the sand, his eyes doing one last scan over the couple. "Keeping an eye on the possible offenders."

The couple felt uncomfortable and decided they had spent enough time on the beach. They packed up, eyeing the patch of sand the man was under warily.

"Alright, time to do more beach stuff!" Ruby got up after her meal.

"No swimming after eating," Cinder reminded her and Ruby nodded her head. "Yes, I know. I was going to play volleyball with Mercury and Emerald."

The two henchmen tried to not groan out loud at this. Playing volleyball with Ruby was like asking to end up with broken bones or missing teeth. The girl went full out with her strength and semblance. But they couldn't reject the idea and so with dread in their limbs they went up to the net. Ruby already had the ball in her hands and was squeezing it (making the two henchmen feel uneasy as they imagined it was their heads in her grasp), eager to get started. "I get to serve first, since it's two on one," she said and then jumped up, smacking the ball hard into the ground. Mercury jumped to the right and Emerald to the left to dodge the comet heading straight for them. The ball hit the ground, making a loud sound from the impact, kicking up dust and leaving a crater where it struck.

"Aww, guys, you can't dodge the ball. You're supposed to hit it." Ruby pouted, hands on her hips.

Emerald and Mercury shot looks to one another. They were hoping they could get away with not having to hit the ball but... "It was nice knowing you," Emerald told Mercury.

"Same," the man told her with a look of grim determination. This was their job. It was full of dangers every day. And so what if most of the dangers they faced to their lives were caused by Ruby? Money was money, a job was a job. They didn't have many options. So sucking it up, they got up to their feet.

"I'll serve," Emerald said and both of them took up positions, ready for battle. The ball barely went over the net before Ruby had risen up to intercept it and spiked it down. The ball hit Emerald straight in the face before she had a chance to move and she bodied the ground, flat on her back.

"We have a casualty!" Mercury screamed out and kneeled down next to her. Her eyes were white spinning circles, there was blood coming down her nose, a red mark on her forehead and some sort of ghost was coming out of her mouth that suspiciously looked like a miniature and pale version of her.

"Is she okay?" Ruby came over to their side, bending over, hands on her knees and confused and worried look on her face. "Emerald, you're supposed to hit the ball with your hands not your face."

"That's not the issue here!" Mercury was beginning to feel panic creep in. "Her spirit is trying to leave her body. Shove it back in!" Mercury pressed down on the head of the spirit but it proved to be tougher than he thought to get it back in.

This seemed to make Ruby realize the severity of the situation. "Nooooo! Emerald don't leave us!" She dropped to her knees and pushed on the spirit as well. But the spirit giggled at their attempts and started wiggling back and forth. Still, they weren't going to give up so easily.

By the time they finally managed to get it back in, the sun had begun to set on the horizon. Emerald woke up as soon as the soul went back in. She sat up, coughing harshly. "What, what happened?" she croaked out, her voice hoarse.

"Phew, we almost lost you there," Ruby wiped her forehead with the back of her hand in relief as she sat back on her haunches.

"I almost died?!" Emerald seemed shocked by this.

"Yup," Ruby said cheerily as Mercury plopped down in relief onto his backside. He had been really worried there. "But it's all okay. Now we can finish playing the game." Ruby lifted up the volleyball and Mercury and Emerald immediately began to put their hands up and shake them. "Come on, it won't be that bad this time. I'll go easy on you."

"Nooooooooo!" They both cried out.

At this Cinder picked her head up from where it was resting on the blanket. Strange, it seemed like she had heard her henchmens screams. Shrugging, she went back to resting and turned to tan her front side.

Another hour or two passed, by which the trio who had been playing volleyball came back to the blanket. Emerald was sporting black and blue bruises on her face, had blood dribbling down her nose, and was holding her wrist which was no doubt broken. Mercury's face also looked like he had been in a professional showdown with a boxer and he was slightly limping, his arm slung around Emerald's shoulders to hold him up. Ruby had promised to go easy on them, that was the only reason why they were still alive.

"What happened to you two?" Cinder asked as she pulled up her shades. Had there been a breech on the beach? Ruby was walking in back of them, smiling and without a scratch. The only reason they had stopped the game was because Ruby had popped the last of the balls. They had gone through all twenty balls that Emerald had packed and now had nothing else to use, which the two henchmen couldn't be more happier about. Finally, an end to their torment.

"We were playing volleyball. It was so much fun, wasn't it guys?" Ruby beamed at her henchmen who only sighed. "Sure thing boss," they said in unison. They couldn't stand to break her smile apart.

"Good, why don't the two of you take a small break and then come back here," Cinder instructed them and both knew what it was she meant by small break.

"I'll tell the other gang members about it too, we'll get the beach cleared out," Emerald offered and Cinder nodded her head. Ruby was oblivious. She was busy guzzling some water down, parched from the long game.

"Alright, Cinder said the boss and her need a break!" Emerald hollered out.

"You know what that means," Mercury added and on their words the men who had hidden themselves popped out from under the sand, or from out of trash cans, or behind people's blankets. They opened fire and began shooting up into the air to get the people to clear the place. Screams filled the air as the gang members yelled at them to get the fuck out.

"What's going on?" Ruby asked, eyeing the scene in front of her.

"Just clearing the beach for the two of us," Cinder hummed, sliding up next to Ruby whose skin was slightly sweaty from her game and glowed in the dusk of the setting sun. Cinder placed her arms around Ruby's thin waist from behind, resting her chin on her shoulder. "We haven't had a chance to have the place to ourselves yet."

"Oh, that's a good idea!" Ruby said. "This way I can splash the waves as hard as I want and not interrupt other people."

Cinder's brows wrinkled up as the girl separated from her and ran into the water. That wasn't what Cinder's intentions were at all. This stupid beach was taking away Ruby's attentions from her! Curling her hand up in frustration, she pulled out her Scroll. She knew just who to call.

Ten minutes later Ruby, who was thigh deep in the water, chasing the waves when they receded and letting them chase her when they swelled again, became aware of the sound of several motor boats approaching. Peering out into the water she saw four jet skis coming at her straight. She narrowed her eyes, shielding them from the glow and a small hard frown came onto her face. She knew who it was. Cardin and his lackies. But what did they want and how did they know she was here?

It didn't matter, she was going to wipe them out of these waters for good.

"Ruby!" Cardin called out, raising his hand in greeting. "How are you today?"

"I was having fun until you ruined it," was her reply as she waded deeper into the water. She didn't have her blade on her but she didn't need it.

"That sucks, what a rough break," Cardin leered at her, his eyes covered up by shades and a wide grin on his face. He and his lackies were wearing life jackets but those wouldn't help them now.

"Yea, and guess who the people who ruined my day are," Ruby was now thigh deep in the water, letting the tips of her fingers trail over the surface of it, little ripples following her.

Cardin's jet ski was slowing down, the roar of it less loud and allowing the two of them to talk more easily. "Who are they?"He asked innocently although he knew. His lackies slowed down their own jet ski's as well.

"I'm looking right at them," Ruby gave a small smile before she tore into the waters, using her semblance to stir up a mini storm and whirlpool. Cinder watched this from a rocky outcrop by the shore. The sound of Cardin and his gang's screams was music to her ears. Because it meant Ruby would be pissed off enough to want her, to not turn away Cinder this time.

And she was right. When Ruby emerged from the water, drenched and spitting out a seaweed that had gotten into her mouth, her angry eyes sought out Cinder's ember gaze.

"Who was that?" Cinder asked although she knew who they were and why they were here. She would make sure to handsomely reward Cardin and his crew for their damages. If they made it back to shore. Right now they were specks in the distance, floating unconscious on the ruined wrecks of their machines.

"Cardin and his group, the Cardinals," Ruby growled out as Cinder picked her way down the rocks to land next to Ruby.

"They always come to bother us," Cinder commented noncommittally. "But their no threat."

"Just an annoyance," Ruby huffed out.

Cinder let her hands rest on the smaller girl's shoulders. "I know a fun beach game that can help you relax. It's called how many times can you make Cinder moan before the high tide rises." Cinder's voice was a seductive whisper.

Ruby instantly perked up. "I've never played that game on the beach before. How do I win? What are the rules?"

Cinder let a smile stretch her lips as she pulled Ruby towards their blanket, spreading the girl down under her. "The rules are simple. Here, let me teach them to you with my body first." And then she kissed her.

They'd only managed to get one round done before Mercury came to interrupt them. "Uh, boss," he coughed into his fist, looking away to the side in embarrassment. "There's been some bad news."

Ruby paused in her position hanging over Cinder, her bikini top nearly off and her bottom half discarded somewhere by Cinder's. She let out a sigh, pulling away from Cinder's delicious lips. "Mercury..." she threateningly began.

"I know you said never to interrupt your beach time unless I wanted to sleep with the fishes, but we need you to head back and-"

At this Ruby stood up and had already placed her garments on in one fast swoop of motion. Her hand was on Mercury's ear, tugging him downwards toward her level and to the water.

"Boss, I'm sorry. I didn't want to do it! But someone had to tell you. I'm really sorry for interrupting! I really am!" He cried out as she tugged him deeper into the waters.

"Save your apologizes for the fishes," she said coldly and then dunked his head into the water, keeping it there by force as he blubbered and tried to wiggle out of her grasp.

Cinder sat up, sighing in annoyance. Just when she had gotten to Ruby...this had happened. She hated when her plans got foiled. This made her cranky. And she really had been looking forward to having Ruby ravish her on a beach today. After all it was romantic, with the setting sunset and all.

She pulled up her bikini bottom and headed over to Ruby where the girl had pulled Mercury's face out of the water, letting him take a breath before dunking him back in again.

"Ruby, don't punish him for too long. I want in on it too," Cinder strode over with her arms crossed over her chest. "I want to bury him in the sand. See how he likes that."

"Okay, sure," Ruby relented, very rarely seeing Cinder get her own hands dirty punishing others. She liked to give the job over to subordinates, preferring to spend her time scheming or something else. Sometimes she indulged in the act herself, but only if she had a real bone to pick with the person. Ruby wondered what had the older woman so mad. She pulled Mercury's head out of the water, his sopping hair coming into his eyes. "No, not the sand! It'll get into my legs and mess them up!" he complained as he sputtered out water.

"Mercury, do I pay you to complain while you're getting punished?" Ruby asked as she dragged Mercury over to Cinder who began to tug him to a hole one of the Grimm men had dug before.

"Uh, no," Mercury said hesitantly, feeling like he had already been asked this before.

"That's right. Now get in the hole," Cinder finished and pushed the man in when he was directly in front of it. He fell in with a little thud and the two girl's began to compact sand onto him until only his head was sticking out.

"Hey, Cinder, are you mad about something?" Ruby asked as she patted some sand around Mercury's neck. "Lift it higher," she ordered him and he did, so she could put more in.

"Why do you ask?" Cinder asked as casually as she could. She wasn't too keen on having Ruby know how sexually frustrated she was.

"Because you're hurting Mercury and that's usually something I do." Ruby was silent as she waited for Cinder to answer her. When the woman simply stood up and rubbed the dry sand off of her hands, a flashbulb lit up over Ruby's head. "Oh...I think I get it. All you had to do was ask me," she reached for Cinder's hand, smiling at the other.

"I didn't want to bother your fun with the beach too much. I just thought the location would be perfect for some evening romance by the setting sun. But now the sun has set..." Cinder gazed wistfully at the darkened sky.

"My bad. I was so wrapped up in my own fun I forgot to be considerate of you," Ruby said, playing with Cinder's hand and looking her in the eye.

"Oh, thanks. That makes me feel better," Mercury sarcastically commented and both girl's yelled a 'shut up' at him.

"Geez, can't a man make a joke," he grumbled out, ruffled. He got sand kicked into his mouth, causing him to spit it out.  _Apparently not_ , he thought to himself.

"It's fine. We can make time to go another day," Cinder said. "Besides we did have a bit of fun before Mercury interrupted. Perhaps I was too one track minded."

"It's...let's not dwell on this. I want our day to have a good ending. So let's head over to deal with the little situation on our hands and then end the day sweetly. How about I make it up to you by using your favorite whip."

"That sounds delectable," Cinder shivered and hand in the hand the two girls left, heading towards the parking lot to send some henchmen to pick up their beach stuff.

"Hey, wait, don't forget me guys!" Mercury called out after them but stopped when he felt something pinch his butt under the sand. "Ah, it's a crab. A crab!" he wiggled to try to shake it off but the sand was too tightly packed and he couldn't move. "Someone, help!" But the beach was vacant, only the sound of water reaching his ears. Some of the water tickled at his chin. "Hey, guys, the tide is rising...could you dig me out before the water gets in my mouth?" Mercury spat out a mouthful of salt water. The two girls had become specks on the beach already.

"Well, this is just-ouch!-great," he mumbled to himself as the crab pinched him again and he wondered once more why he worked for a gang.


	12. Nora Strikes Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of angst in this one

"Nora." A pause, the crunch of metal filling it.

"Nora." Another pause after the verbalization, shattering of glass filling the silence.

"Nora." A heavy sigh as the orange haired girl squared her shoulders.

"What, Ren?" Nora snapped her head back to look with annoyance at the boy who had been calling her name in the same inflection for the past two minutes.

"I don't think this is a good idea," he said when he saw he finally had her attention.

"What isn't?"

"This whole...revenge thing," Ren said, gesturing to the space around him. This stopped Nora in her motions of smashing the cash register as people ran screaming around her in the bakery shop, and out the door. She gave Ren an odd look, eyeing how he stood there next to her, his weapons hidden.

"Ren, what are you taking about?" She couldn't keep the hurt out of her voice and Ren winced at this, but he wasn't going to let her guilt trip him like she did every other time. Because their lives were at stake here.

"I've been doing some thinking...and I don't think this is a good idea. Don't you remember what Ruby said? Not to cross her. And we're on her territory right now. And we're wrecking it."

Nora's eyebrows descended. Her voice was mocking. "Are you scared Ren? Scared of a little girl?"

"That little girl put us in the hospital for two months with broken bones. She's dangerous."

"Broken bones are just a small price to pay for saving the town's bakeries from evil."

Ren shook his head, exasperated. "Nora, I'd love to help free this city from evil. But we're not strong enough. You saw how easily Ruby wiped us out and with such an odd weapon. We don't stand a chance against her. We need to retreat. To stop this plan."

"Then you can go. Because I don't need you holding me back!" Ren's eyes widened at this. Never before had they ever separated like this. Never before had they had a fight like this.

"Nora..." he started softly.

"No." Her face was set. "You've done nothing but complain about this Ruby girl to me. You're just a scared little boy and I don't need you holding me back on this. If you don't want to send a message to Ruby then fine, don't. But I will. Because I'm not scared of her."

"Nora..." Ren stretched out a hand, to touch her and see if this was the Nora he always knew because she was acting so different. Ever since Ruby had broken her bones she had seemed a little darker. Intent on getting the girl back and on bringing her monopoly of bakeries down. Nora hated when she was denied something, even if that something was bad for her health.

"Just go away Ren. I still have nine more bakeries to drop by." With that Nora turned her back on him, sledgehammer slung over her shoulder, and left Ren alone in the dark dim bakery, the lights sparking above him and reflecting on the shattered glass around him. He merely looked downwards, his shoulders slumping.

"I guess I'll wait for you back home in the hideout," he said quietly.

* * *

"Sweet Tooth Nora." Ruby's voice was hard and unamused. It caused Nora to stop in her actions of bringing her sledgehammer down on the glass case containing the cookies and other baked goods.

"Ruby Rose," Nora swiveled on her heel and slung her hammer over her shoulder. The Grimm gang leader was standing in the doorway, or what remained of the doorway, of the store. Tables and chairs lay overturned between the two of them and music ran on a loop, the radio having gotten a good smacking but not enough to stop the music.

"What brings you here," Nora asked, gesturing with her right hand to the area around her, "to my bakery?" Ruby's eyebrow twitched at the phrase  _my bakery_. How brazen was Nora to declare that. Did she have a death wish? It sure looked like it!

"Nora, I already told you what would happen if you interfered with my plans again. This time I won't be so kind to you." Ruby's scythe was out and propped onto her shoulder, the blade menacing in the store lights.

Nora tsked. "I'm not someone who backs away easily, especially when it comes to things I'm passionate about. You can't take away these people's bakeries. They deserve to have their goods fair and square to them."

Ruby didn't deign to comment on that. "Where's Ren?" she asked, looking around the store covertly and not finding the Asian boy anywhere. Weren't the two an inseparable pair? What had happened? Was he waiting in hiding, only to spring out on her as some form of a trap?

"He decided he didn't want to help me. So I told him to leave," Nora righteously said.

"He had the right idea," Ruby hummed. "Because your little shenanigans have really pissed me off, especially because I so explicitly warned you to stay away from my territory."

"I'm not scared of you!" Nora hefted her sledgehammer and pointed it right at Ruby. She could sense a fight coming, and she was going to go into it swinging first.

At this Ruby's expression lightened up into a smile, or at least it tried to. Cinder had told Ruby that the combination of her swinging around her giant scythe and smiling would make anyone scared, but Ruby was honestly too upset to pull that off right now. Nora had decimated not only one but eight of her bakeries! Eight of them! They were ruined, smoldering wrecks, the conflagrations only being doused out and controlled by Cinder's powers.

"Well, you should be," Ruby settled on that response to Nora, her lips staying straight and thin with anger and her silver eyes alive with some inner flame. Then she moved forwards.

* * *

Ren was worried, to say the least. Never before had he and Nora not gone on a mission together. It was always just natural for the two of them to do something together. It made him unsettled to be away from her for so long. He couldn't stop worrying about it, the sensation of missing something important by his side annoying him. Was she okay? Had she destroyed the ten bakeries? Would she be coming back soon? He gave a heavy sigh and resumed his pacing around the small apartment flat the two of them shared. It shouldn't be taking her this long. She should be done by now. Ren reached for his weapons where he kept them strapped to his legs but stopped, his fingers curling around them but not pulling them out.

They had had an argument and Nora wouldn't want to see him now. She was probably still mad. Maybe he could make some pancakes to cheer her up. Ugh, maybe he shouldn't have said anything and just gone with her. But it was too late for that now.

He went to the kitchen and began mixing some pancake batter to get his thoughts off of his best friend. He had already fried ten pancakes by the time the doorbell rang. Wondering who it was, as Nora wouldn't have any need to ring the door as she lived here, he took the stack of pancakes with him just in the small case it was her so he could surprise her.

But it was him who was surprised and the plate of pancakes slipped out of his grip and to the floor where they flopped around him as he dropped to his knees. In a cardboard box that was leaking on the welcome mat in front of his door, was Nora's head.

Severed clean off.

His hands went up to his mouth to cover the screams that threatened to come up, but it wasn't screams that were coming up but something else. As he hurled onto the floor the contents of his stomach, the words written in a childish scrawl in red blood on the flap of the box were burned into his mind.

_I warned you._


	13. Weiss Doesn't Have a Sweet Day

Weiss had expected to be laughed at by her family when she declared that she wanted to expand the business into the sugar and flour industry's. After all, they had descended from royalty, had been royalty for a long portion of the family's lineage, so owning such companies that specialized in flour and sugar were laughable and way below a Schnee's level of interest. Yet, Weiss wanted to do it. Because she wanted to strike out on her own, separate from her father's businesses. For her father pretended to be a simple dust merchant but under that facade he was actually involved in all sorts of illicit activities with all the wrong people. Weiss' father knew how she truly felt about his involvement for she had made it abundantly clear to his face whenever she could. She didn't want to be associated with white collar crime, she didn't want to fall into the stereotype of a typical Schnee: power hungry, greedy, blood thirsty and out to get the throne back. He had tried to convert her to his side countless times but failed and finally relented, letting her go to pursue her silly dreams in a country as far away from him as she could get. Her father still had some dust shops open in Vale, as he was going for complete domination of the dust markets, but other than that he didn't express much interest in Vale and so she would be safe from his meddlesome interference there.

After laughing at her and telling her she was degrading herself by becoming involved in such industries, he let her go with only a couple thousand dollars to her name to help her with her business ventures. Weiss had picked the flour and sugar industry because she figured it would be free from corruption, and that it would be fairly easy to run, as well was as far away as possible from the dust market. She was certain she never would have to deal with her father's products at all while running her companies. But she couldn't know how wrong she was. She couldn't have foreseen what would happen. For it was not her father and his pestering presence she should be worried about, but someone else entirely.

She expected there to be troubles with procuring the businesses and getting into the rhythm of life in Vale. For there to be trouble with finances and distributions, and shipping and packing. What she hadn't expected was that she was going to be robbed by some midget in a ridiculous cloak, holding an oversized knife.

And apparently this girl was some big deal. Not that Weiss would know. She was still new to Vale, recently having moved from Atlas. The girl in the cloak had arrived in a black van and strode up to the door of Weiss's factory, flanked by a black haired woman, a gray haired man and another woman with green hair.

"Who are they?" Weiss asked as she looked out the window that overlooked the newcomers, arching a brow in confusion as the men guarding her door suddenly ran away.

"That's...that's the Grimm," the man who was her adviser had paled and dropped his clipboard before declaring he was quitting as he rushed away. The Grimm? Weiss had heard of them before, but only in passing. They weren't a threat to Atlas anymore, the army having given up on taming them, so she hadn't concerned herself with them, figuring the Grimm must have fallen out of power or something. Additionally, none of her informants had brought them up when she had declared she would go into the sugar and flour industry in Vale.

She decided she would check out these people for herself, see what they wanted. She was halfway down the stairs when the group strode into the warehouse, standing in the middle of the empty space, space that was waiting to be filled with sweet goods.

"Hello there!" the small girl cheered and waved her hand in greeting. Her entourage remained silent behind her, faces stern.

"Hello," Weiss said, with a touch of caution. She reached the last step of the stairs and hesitated, contemplating if she should come any closer. She had Mytremaster with her. She was trained to use it well, as it was an age old custom of her family line to learn the art of fighting. Feeling that she would be fine, as they didn't seem to be here for a fight, she approached them, keeping a distance of ten feet. Enough to hear them but far enough to be able to jump back in case.

"I'm Ruby Rose, leader of the Grimm gang. And these here are my members. Cinder Fall, Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai." The girl pointed to each member in succession. "You must be Weiss Schnee, of the Schnee family from Atlas," Ruby said, a small smile on the girl's face.

Again Weiss was cautious as she answered. "Yes."

"Long way from home?" Ruby asked. Weiss didn't know if the girl was testing her, or simply interested in making small talk. Weiss wasn't interested in small talk so she decided to speed things up. "Let's get right to it. I know you aren't here for idle chatter. You're the Grimm gang, I'm sure, so you've come to me for something. Is it something to do with my family? Because I'll have you know that I'm not here to make any deals for my father on his behalf. If you want dust, or weapons, or anything illegal, I'm not going to pass on the word."

This seemed to catch Ruby off guard, if her wide open eyes were any indication. She took a second to recover. "No, I'm not here for that. I'm here to talk to you about your industry."

Weiss arched a brow at this. "And what about it? Have I broken some sort of rules of conduct by acquiring it? If so, I had no such idea that I did. But I'm sure a hefty amount of cash could fix that blunder and it could all be swept under the rug."

Again Ruby was having a hard time following what Weiss was suggesting. It took her another moment to respond.

"Uh, I was kind of hoping to buy your factories from you."

Now it was Weiss's turn to be shocked. "What?" she blurted out before she realized that that could be taken as a rude response. She was talking to a mobster after all. They took offense to the weirdest things.

"You see, I'm in the possession of a lot of bakeries and I want the best ingredients for my goods, so I was hoping to buy all the sugar and flour industries in Vale. But before I could, it seemed someone had beat me to it. That someone was you."

"If you think I will hand it over to you, you are sorely mistaken. I didn't leave Atlas to make my own money and business only for it to be taken from me just weeks after I acquire it." Weiss's voice was rough. She wasn't going to give up what she had just gained. She could imagine her father's and sister's amusement at Weiss's failure, getting bought out by someone else so quickly. Weiss had left home so she could prove to them that her dreams were valid, that she didn't need her family legacy, and that she was a competent woman, damn it!

"I was going to buy it out," Ruby pouted. "And give you a lot of money for it."

Weiss wasn't swayed. "The answer is no."

Ruby let out a sigh, bending over in half before straightening out. "Man, and here I was hoping we could get along. Be friend's."

"I don't make friend's," Weiss interjected coldly, hoping this message would get it through Ruby's head that she wasn't in business with her.

"Whelp, I guess this means we gotta take you out."

At Ruby's words, Weiss's hand flew to the hilt of her blade, causing a chain reaction. Cinder's hands flared up in fire, Mercury got into a fighting stance and Emerald reached into her pockets. Only Ruby stood at ease.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you now. I'll come by later. I'd advise you to hire some goons to work for you because I'll be bringing my gang over and I hate when it's not a fair fight."

Weiss narrowed her eyes. Why was this girl trying to offer her a fair fight? How odd. Certainly not what one would expect from a gang leader.

"All your businesses will be mine," Ruby said ominously before she clicked her tongue. Immediately her people relaxed. "Let's go back home. We need to plan how to take over all these factories in a most successful manner." They made their way to the door. "I had really hoped we could have been friends," Ruby called over her shoulder as she left.

Only when she was gone did Weiss relax her grip on her weapon. Then turning on her heel, she went upstairs, ready to dial the number for henchmen for hire.


	14. How to Save Ruby

"Maybe we should just kiss to ease the tension between the two of us?" Sun poised the question with one of his handsome smiles. He was leaning casually against the hospital wall, arms crossed over her muscular chest which was on casual display given his open shirt.

"Wha?" Yang asked distractedly. She was busy peering at the white wall in front of her.

"I said we should kiss to ease this tension." Sun watched as Yang dragged her gaze up to his face. Her eyes usually alive with mirth and mischievousness were dead, with bags under them.

"What tension?" she asked, her tone monotone.

Sun let out a sigh, stemming his hands on his hips. "It was a joke to help lighten you up. You're...so tense and just not acting like you and I'm worried."

"Well sorry for not being myself. But you're not the one missing a fucking limb!" Yang suddenly snarled out and Sun realized that that had been the wrong thing to say.

"I don't...I mean, let's not talk about it," Sun put up his hands to dissuade the topic from continuing.

"No. I need to do something about this," Yang said, her left hand absently trailing up to where the stump of her right arm was bandaged.

"About the...arm?" Sun trailed off not sure if he should be bringing it up but wanting to be certain what it was Yang was referring to.

"No. That's gone. But it can be fixed. Dad got me a mechanical arm, military grade. But...it's Ruby." Yang swallowed hard at this and looked away, back at the wall in front of her.

"What about her? Is it the fact that she didn't visit you? I know that she'd be the first one usually...in fact, yeah where is she? Why isn't she like sitting 24/7 by your bed?" Sun gave a wide look around the room.

"That's the thing, Sun. Ruby is...gone."

"Gone?" Sun echoed, scratching his blonde spiky hair in confusion. Was she dead? The girl had run away a year ago. There was no telling what had happened with her.

"She's caught up in some bad business, and it's up to me to stop her, because she won't see the error of her ways." Yang griped the bed sheets hard with her good hand. Her grip was white knuckled. Her face was contorted with emotional pain. Sun couldn't stand to see Yang like this. He missed her sunny disposition. She'd usually come out of scraps and bad situations laughing it off like it was nothing. But not this time. And he was really worried for her. What had happened to make her like this? He wanted more than anything to help her. To make her smile again.

"I want to help."

His admission caught her off guard. She turned incredulous eyes to him. "Don't. I don't need it."

"Yes, you do," he countered, approaching her. "This is tearing you up. And I can't stand for it. I won't see you in pain like this anymore. So whatever it is that has hurt you...the reason Ruby is gone...I want to be able to solve it." He stopped at her bed, staring at her with pleading eyes.

She couldn't meet them. "No."

"Yang, don't be like this. You know you need help. Whatever it is that Ruby has become involved in, it caused your arm to get cut off. And I want vengeance against the one who hurt you like this. I want to help you get back at them. And I want to save Ruby."

There was a bitter laugh from Yang at this as her hand came up to her stump. "If you want vengeance against the perpetrator who did this to me, and want to save my sister, then you can't come along. Because she was the one who did this." The last sentence was said with bitterness, so much that Sun had never expected the girl to be able to speak like this. He had only ever heard her voice, light, loud and booming as she laughed long and hard at some joke or another. Or heard it in the throes of anger, terrifying and bloodcurdling. But not like this.

"Ruby...did this?" Sun's mind had a tough time wrapping around the concept. "How?" He knew the girl had anger issues but never had he thought she would raise a blade against her sister. The two girls loved each other dearly. Their sisterly bonds were what every pair of sisters wished it was. So what had gone wrong? Had Ruby been pressured into doing it?

Yang shook her head. "It's none of your business."

Sun tightened his lips. Yang's refusal to let him help was pissing him off. He rounded the bed so that he would be directly in her line of sight. She just looked through him. Her hand was scratching intensely at her bandages. He bent forwards a little so that he could be level with her gaze. "Yang Xiao Long, I'm your best friend. And have been for a good portion of the three years we've attended Beacon together. We've faced certain death together, fought off countless hordes of mobsters, played way too many pranks to count on our fellow teammates and had our share of drunken nights out on town. We've gone through way too much to simply part ways here. I'm going to help you with this issue. I'm not leaving you be to do it on your own and there is nothing you can say or do to dissuade me from my decision." Sun pointed his finger at her in accentuation of his words.

Yang seemed to wilt under his intense gaze and heartfelt words. "I...I feel so lost, Sun. I don't know what to do. It's...it's Ruby. She's my sister. I love her and I'm worried for her. What can I even do to save her? She doesn't want to come home. She doesn't see anything wrong with what she's doing." Yang's voice wavered. She sounded like she would cry but Sun knew better than that. Yang never cried in front of others. "Am I a bad sister? Is this all my fault? Where did I go wrong?" Her hand clutched her stump painfully and Sun could see blood seeping through the bandage. It was like the bloody version of Yang crying, because she couldn't do it with her eyes as long as he was around. Sun gently untangled her hand from it's vice like grip and held it between his two hands.

"Yang, you're the best older sister anyone could ask for. You've taken care of Ruby since forever. And when she went missing, who was the first to look for her? You. It was you. You didn't sleep, didn't eat for a whole week as you scourged the city for her. And you put up posters for her, you alerted the police. No one cares more for her than you do Yang. So if anything bad happened to her, it's not your fault. She's not a little girl anymore. You can't protect her from her own decisions. All you can do is support her and console her when they go bad." Sun stroked his thumb over her knuckles.

Yang was silent for a long while after this, her eyes having fallen down to the sheets pooled around her legs. Her shoulders shook and Sun knew she was trying hard to hold back her tears. He gave her the time she needed, just holding her warm hand in his.

When she recovered, her eyes were burning with determination. "Alright, Sun. We've got to get my sister back. I know she didn't mean to hurt me, she just needs help getting back onto the path she strayed off of. I know she won't come willingly so we'll need to come up with some plan in order to get her back."

Sun was glad to see her familiar flare of energy back. He hated a mopey Yang. "Any ideas?"

Yang shook her head. "Not yet. Help me brainstorm some. I want to get Ruby back as soon as possible. Get me that pad of paper from there and a pen so I can write down some ideas."

"Got it. And Yang," Sun turned on his heel to look at her as he backed up to get the pad and paper from the table top. He needed to see if her renewal of spirit was genuine or just a mask to cover up her darker emotions. "If you need help, just ask for a  _hand_."

Yang snorted at this. "I would say I'm  _all-right_ , but I'm actually just left," she cracked back, shaking her left hand, her only good one, and he let out a breath of relief, his grin spreading on his mouth. Yang seemed to have recovered from the brief depression she had been in.

He pulled up a chair to sit by her bed and the two of them got to making plans for their operation dubbed Rescuing Ruby Rose, or RRR for short. It wasn't easy but with two brains the plan making went by faster. Yang filled Sun in on what she knew about the situation which wasn't much.

"I know someone who could help us out with this," Sun had assured her. "They can spy on Ruby's gang if she truly is in one. And leader of it." Sun let out a low appreciative whistle. "How the hell did that happen?"

"I don't know," Yang said thoughtfully before her expression changed and she was waggling her brows. "I'm  _stumped_." She raised her wounded right arm and she and Sun laughed together at this.

"But not for long," Sun said, calming down, and he patted her shoulder. The sun had gone down and it was getting dark. He had to go back to the dorms so he could do his work. "We'll get Ruby back."

Yang sobered at this. "Yea." Was all she said and all that needed to be said. In that one word lay all of Yang's insecurities about the issue and Sun didn't want to press her by asking if she was really okay. That would only anger her and make her draw back further into her shell. He was just going to pretend everything was alright.

"Text me if you need anything," he said as he left. He hated to go, especially when she needed all the support in this big transition but he couldn't stay over night. He only hoped she wouldn't do anything stupid. He knew she had a penchant for doing that. He was the smarter one of the two. Although he could be as stupid and rash headed if not more than her in certain situations. Their relationships worked like a series of checks and balances. Sometimes he'd be the dumb one and sometimes she'd be the dumb one and they'd look out for each other. But it worked, and they had fun which was the most important part.

"Okay." Her smile only lasted until he left. Then she slumped down onto her bed, lifting her stump up so she could look at it. "Stumped...huh," she muttered to herself, her voice full of tears that she could now freely shed. "Why, Ruby? Why?" she just wanted to know to ease this sting of betrayal and confusion she felt.

But she wouldn't know until she saved her sister, no matter what it took.

 _No matter what it takes,_  she vowed.


	15. Pyrrha Nikos, Reporting for Duty

Pyrrha Nikos, three time champion of the Vytal Tournament and Valedictorian of Beacon Academy, which she was a recent graduate of, stood outside the police station holding her carton of personal belongings which she would use to decorate her desk with. She was wearing her police uniform with it's snappy black hat, blue shirt and black pressed pants, black shoes polished to the point of reflecting anything. She was excited, to say the least, to be here. It had been her dream to enter the police force to fight crime on the streets. It was after all why she had gone to Beacon academy, to fight villains that tormented the city. People had been confused by her choice at first. Why would someone as talented and popular as her want to become a common cop when she could join an elite fighting force?

But the truth was she simply wanted to be out of the limelight. She didn't like the abhorrent attention on her. She felt like she couldn't do anything without being judged harshly for it. That she always had to act a certain way. And she certainly did not want to join an elite hunting force which would have everything publicized, which would have all their actions criticized and whose finances came from corporations that told them what fights to fight and what clothes to wear. Pyrrha didn't want to be a sponsored hero. She wanted to be authentic and what better place than the police force where most of the work done by Vale's force got under appreciated.

With a warm smile on her face she strode right into the building, pushing the heavy and worn oak doors open with her shoulders. The place was a bit rundown but nothing could wipe away the girl's excitement. Not even the sour face the receptionist made when Pyrrha asked her where her desk was. Not even the small size of her cubicle, desk, and chair that would be her work station for the foreseeable future. Not even the klutzy blonde haired boy who spilled coffee all over her shirt front. Nope. Nothing could take away her enthusiasm for this job.

She was going to be able to change lives. She was certain of it.

Smiling at her desk she began to type information on records into the computer.

* * *

Frowning she sat at her desk, looking at the information on her computer screen.

Something fishy was going on with this station. She was certain of it.

She had been here for just three months but already something heavy rested on her stomach and her mouth tasted sour. Pyrrha had been doing her job. She had been out on the streets, patrolling them and chasing after perps before they could get a chance to rob stores. But that was the issue. The perps that she captured wouldn't stay behind bars. More than once Pyrrha had watched Roman, a notorious swindler and dust mule, and Neo, a silent interrogator, been let out to walk back onto the streets. This had confused her at first, her thinking she had gotten something wrong in arresting them. But running through their files did confirm that they were indeed criminals. So then why were they being let free?

She had confronted the chief of police on this but the man had waved away her concerns telling her that since she was new here she didn't know what she was doing. But she did know. She wasn't some dumb jock. She had been top of her class for a reason!

And the other cops had been the same! Whenever she had raised this sentiment with them, wondering if the criminals they caught ever walked away, they had laughed at her, saying that she shouldn't mess with the Grimm gang. This infuriated her. Corrupt cops! And of all times, when the city was in the grips of a nasty power hungry and bloodthirsty gang. She tried to change their mindset on corruption; how they were supposed to protect the citizens and not let harm come to them. But they had yet again laughed at her and said that she didn't know how the real world worked, that she should stop living in an utopia, because those didn't exist. She had been offended by this. She wasn't naive! She had seen bloodshed, had brought pain to others. She knew the horrors of life in and out. Still they didn't take her words seriously, waving her off and telling her that until she had crossed the Grimm gang leader, that she didn't really know pain. That pain only took on meaning when it was wrought upon others by her hands.

Pyrrha had then said that she was going to reach the top of the Grimm gang. That she was going to work on the side to capture the leader. They called her a fool for it but didn't do anything to stop her. Pyrrha took to researching like mad anything she could about the gang. She combed through all the police forces records and found herself appalled and sickened by the extensive list of the Grimm gang's damages. She saw that Roman, Neo, Emerald, and Mercury were in the top of the gang, having served the once leader Cinder. But the woman was no longer leader, serving another. And Pyrrha had to wonder who the person was. Not much was known about them yet, except they carried a scythe and left their mark, a red rose, on their work.

Pyrrha was going to have to interrogate some of the top brass at the Grimm gang. And she was going to start with Roman and Neo. She just had to catch them. But they were slippery and good fighters. Still, she was talented and determined.

"Working late again?" the blonde haired boy, the one who had spilled coffee on her shirt the first day of her work, asked as he leaned over his cubicle wall to gaze at her. It was past operating hours and Pyrrha was sitting at the computer, her hair tied up into a messy bun and an ash tray next to her, filled with about twenty butts. She had recently taken to smoking. Something which she knew was bad but which she couldn't help. The injustice was making her burn up inside so she had to burn something else or else she would combust herself.

"Yea, Mr. Arc," she responded to him without taking her eyes off of the screen as she typed stuff in. "Why are you here late again?"

"I uh, mucked up some documents. So I gotta redo them. All of them," he admitted uncomfortably. Pyrrha would have apologized for making him feel unsettled with her question, but she was too worn out to care. Today she had been pulled off to the side and reprimanded harshly after she had tried to go bust a dust robbery conducted by the Grimm. The criminals had been let go and she couldn't do anything about it. "But it's fine. I'm used to it."

Pyrrha merely grunted in the affirmative. Jaune was by far one of the worst cops she had come across in a while. She couldn't believe he had been a student of Beacon. How had he made it through with his abysmal skill set? He didn't even have a proper semblance and his field work reports were the worst. Sloppily written and lacking details. Yet, he was a nice person. Earnest, and he kind of reminded her of a puppy that had been kicked one time too many.

There was silence, only filled by her quick typing and the small slurps of his coffee. He was still looking down at her.

"Still working on the same lead?" He asked. He knew what it was she was working on. Everyone at the station did, although they used it as fodder for jokes. He was the only one who seemed genuinely interested in it. Sighing, for it seemed the boy wanted to talk rather work, Pyrrha decided to lean back from the computer and take a break. It wouldn't hurt and she was being rather rude by not engaging in conversation with him. She wouldn't have done this months ago but she now carried no small amount of dislike for cops at this station. And while Jaune never openly jeered at her, his incompetence both on the field and off irritated her. The police force would never do any good with people like him on it.

"Yes. And I think I'm getting closer." She pulled out the cigarette from between her lips and loosened the tie around her neck more. It felt strangling. "If the others aren't going to do anything about the Grimm gang then I will."

"Why didn't you join the elite warriors then? You're amazing. I mean, I've seen you on TV. You got it all. The power, the personality, the mannerisms, the golden heart and the looks," he blushed a little on this, " to be a hero. So why didn't you go there. Why did you choose to come here? The police are corrupt. You won't achieve anything with them. Me, I suck plain and simple. I had no other place to go to after I completed schooling, which was a miracle in itself. But your potential is being wasted here." Pyrrha was a bit taken aback by his words. She never knew he felt this way about her. The two of them barely exchanged many words, the boy too shy or stumbling over his words or feet too often to talk to her. But today his words were clear, his sentences honest.

"Because I didn't know," was her simple reply. "I just wanted to be...normal. I wanted to be close to people and not some sort of icon. The hero squads aren't all that they seem to be. They have their negatives." She sucked on her cigarette and let out a long stream of smoke. "That's why I came here. But it didn't pan out like I thought it would. But I'm not going to give up. I came to help people and I will. If I have to I will use my popularity to raise awareness of the corruption in the force. But first I need good hard proof." She tapped on her computer screen.

Jaune swirled his cup, looking down into the liquid in there. "You know...I've admired you for the longest time. You were a celebrity even before you were of age to join Beacon, but you were so good at tournaments. I wanted to be like you. You helped me get through school. You kept me going with the idea that I could be better. And while I suck, I could have been worse. So...I was thinking that this time I could help you." His voice was soft, almost tapering off at the end.

"What?" Pyrrha who had been reclining in the chair, snapped up right at those words. Had she hear right?

"I want to stop the corruption in this force. But I've never been smart enough or strong enough to do it. But I've wanted to do it for the longest time. And now that you're here, you've inspired me to want to try to do something. I want to offer you my support. Let me be the light this time, the light that helps you through this trying time." He blushed as he said this. "Not that I'm like anything amazing to look up to, like you or stuff, but, uh, well, I just want to help," he finished sheepishly. "With you around, the force might actually get better."

Pyrrha regarded the boy thoughtfully for a while and her gaze must have been intimidating because he coughed and looked away, going to sit back down at his computer. "Never mind what I said, I just thought..."

"Mr. Arc," Pyrrha stood up from her seat, this time her being the one to lean over his cubicle wall. "I appreciate the offer. Having your support would mean a lot to me." Hearing those words-that someone else noticed the corruption and wanted to do something about it- lifted her mood. Even though it was Jaune Arc, the definition of a bumbling fool, it was still something. Jaune's face blossomed into joy at this.

"But, we need to work on your fighting skills, because we will be out there fighting."

"Right," Jaune's face fell a little as he took on a more serious form and nodded his head.

"And we'll need to work on your investigating skills and your writing skills. Your reports are plain horrid," Pyrrha continued on and Jaune squirmed in discomfort.

She would have pointed out more of his flaws but relented, figuring she didn't want to lose his support so quickly. "We need to work on it. I'll train you. Meet me in the police gym at six in the morning? We can start with your fighting technique first."

Jaune nodded his head in affirmation. "Sounds like a good idea. Together we can beat this corruption."

"I sure hope so, Mr. Arc," Pyrrha muttered, letting out a plume of smoke from her lips.

"Just Jaune. Call me Jaune," the blonde offered, blushing slightly.

"Alright, Jaune. I'll see you early tomorrow. And don't be late."

It was time to take this station back from the Grimm.


	16. Jaune's Buddy Cop Idea

"I still think Pyrrhic Pyrrha is a good name for you," Jaune argued around his glazed doughnut. Crumbs fell from his mouth as he spoke. He was seated in the passenger seat of the car that they were using for their stakeout. It was currently parked across the street from a club that the redhead cop had seen Neo go into. They had been waiting an hour for her to leave but she still hadn't exited the premises. "We can use it over the walkie talkies like they do in movies, so they won't understand our code."

"I don't think so," she stated simply for the third time, slowing getting annoyed with him. He had been blabbering non stop all the way on this ride and now while they waited. They were supposed to be quiet and attentive here but the boy simply paid more regard to his doughnut and to this stupid nickname conversation then to the club.

"And what's wrong with it? It's like from the Greek thing, Pyrrhic victory, meaning a good victory, since you're like a three time winner of the Vytal tournaments and stuff." Jaune shoved another bite of the pastry into his mouth, mumbling around it.

"Jaune, Pyrrhic victory doesn't mean that. It means a victory where the victor's loses are as great as the defeated party's."

"Oh," Jaune said quietly and he stopped talking for a good minute or two which the redhead was grateful for. It didn't last long, as the man had been thinking up more names in the time. "What about Nike? Like Pyrrha Nike? Since Nike is the goddess of victory and stuff."

She couldn't believe he was still doing the victory spiel. She flicked the ash from off her cigarette tip into the ash tray on the dashboard. "But if we're coming up with nicknames, then why use my real name in it? And besides, thanks for the flattery, but I haven't exactly been feeling victorious given the police forces efforts to thwart my crime fighting."

"Hmmmm, then what about Pretty?" Jaune suggested, scrunching up his nose in exertion of the extent of his mental skills.

With exasperation Pyrrha turned away from the driver's window where she had been staring at the club entrance. "Really?"

"But it's true!" Jaune stammered to explain before he realized what he was talking about and flushed a color close to that of the jelly center of his doughnut. "Sorry, I, that was awkward."

Pyrrha merely rolled her eyes at him and turned to the window. "How about you come up with the names. I'm not good at them." He suggested.

Figuring it would be better to just go with Jaune's silly demand just to get it over with, she quickly came up with some nicknames. "I could be Pumpkin and you could be Knight."

"Huh?" Pyrrha didn't have to turn around to know that he was doing that stupid confused face, the one where his brows went up and his mouth went comically slack. "Pumpkin for me since of my hair color, and because I was the spokesperson for Pumpkin Pete's for a long time. And then since your name is similar to a woman who cross-dressed as a man and saved her village, you're a knight, which is what she went in guise as. And no one should guess who we are from those names, since only we'll have the background info on why we're called this."

Jaune was silent a moment before, "Oh wow, that's very well thought out. The names have meanings and their just perfect." Jaune was gushing and Pyrrha couldn't help but cringe a little. Now that she and Jaune were working closely together she could see how much the boy truly admired her. He had just been too shy and afraid to do it before. He had confessed to her that seeing her disparaged by her coworkers made him realize she wasn't as scary as he first thought, that she was just human like the others.

So far they had been working together for a week. In that week Pyrrha had trained Jaune in his combat. Each morning from six to eight they were at the gym, her beating his ass while he pathetically tried to prevent said ass whopping. His form was horrid and his reflexes as well. But with her help she noticed he was slowly inching forward in improvement, although it wouldn't hurt to continue working on this for months. She was going to shape him up into a proper partner because that's what he wanted to be. He liked to pretend they were a buddy cop duo from those cheesy cop movies he watched. Pyrrha put up with only because it was impossible to stop him. It made him want to eat doughnuts and do stakeouts with her. To have silly nicknames, to have a sort of funny and witty banter with her as they fought crime. But he failed horribly to do all those things.

The redhead was grateful that she did have his support, no matter how much she internally bemoaned it, because while he was a hindrance more than a help in several fields (she had to dedicate time to train him to do things which took out free time from her schedule) he was really good at moral support. He knew how to cheer her up when she felt down and kept her well hydrated and fed whenever he could, telling her that it was important to be well fueled on missions. And he was a ridiculously good cook, which didn't make any sense to Pyrrha. She would think that being in a place with so many dangerous things like fire and knives would be a recipe for disaster but it was actually a recipe for really good food.

When Pyrrha had questioned this, after the third time she had come over to Jaune's place so they could work late on some files for the side missions, he had explained that he had many sisters and it was his job as the oldest sibling to feed them. So he perfected the craft over the years. She had been impressed by his wide repertoire of dishes and actually looked forward to the nights they would spend working at his place because of the food he made. He had even begun to show her how to make a few of the dishes which she greatly appreciated since she'd never really had to make her own food before, everything had been provided to her due to her sponsorship when she was younger.

"There!" Pyrrha exclaimed, coming out from her thoughts as she saw the dual hair colored girl exiting the club. "Let's follow her."

She watched as the girl entered a black van and took off. Pyrrha pulled the car out of parking, Jaune practically vibrating in energy next to her. "This is it! The chase! The scene in the movies where we have to race like maniacs through the streets, avoiding obstacles and outsmarting the enemy before cutting them off!"

"Let's hope not," Pyrrha grumbled out, keeping a safe distance from the van.

* * *

"Man, that chase was boring," Jaune pouted as him and Pyrrha were crouched down by a pair of trash cans.

"What did you expect? Those things only happen in movies," Pyrrha pointed out, making a silencing motion to shush Jaune, "Now be quiet, their close by." She was referring to Neo, who had exited the car and entered an alleyway no doubt to sell the drugs she had picked up at the club. The two cops had exited the car to follow her and were huddled not too far from her. They had been listening in on the deal, but admittedly with Neo, there wasn't much conversation to be gleamed. Now she was done and heading their way.

"Is it just me or is something moving in this trash?" Jaune asked with a hint of unease in his voice. Pyrrha ignored it. "Stay here, I'll take care of this," Pyrrha said and timing her entrance just right, she rose up from behind her hiding spot and held out her police badge just as Neo was coming down the alley.

"Stop, Vale Law Enforcement!" she cried out, stopping the girl in her tracks. Neo arched a brow at her, surprised at her sudden appearance. "You have the right to-"

There was a loud crash behind her followed by a scream and curse. "Ah shit! Help, help!" Both girls turned to see that Jaune had jumped out from the hiding spot and there was a giant, fat, rat on his leg, crawling up his pants. He was shaking it wildly, trying to get it off, hopping around on his other leg.

"Jaune, I told you to stay put!" Pyrrha scolded.

"But there was a giant rat and now it's on me!" Jaune's voice was barely coherent, mostly made of screams and such.

Sighing, Pyrrha used her semblance to pick up a trash can lid and use it to smack the rat off. But the rat was smarter than it looked. Every time the lid came closer to hitting it, it moved so that the metal clanged painfully on Jaune's flesh instead. "Ah! That hurt!" he cried out.

"Sorry," Pyrrha grimaced. "Just hold still will you. Then I could get it right," she squinted as she tried to aim more on target but the rat was now scrambling up over Jaune's shirt and his arm and then his neck and suddenly it was on his face. This made Jaune pause completely as he was paralyzed by fear. "Get...it...off," he pleaded in a tiny voice.

"Alright, just don't breathe," Pyrrha warned.

"Trust me, I'm not," the blonde assured. The metal lid hung in the air in front of the rat. Pyrrha held her arms out steady, willing her semblance to respond to the most minute of her movements, hoping this time it would be accurate.

The rat was tittering on Jaune's face, it's fat tail lashing around. Pyrrha took this moment to strike and the rat jumped off, scampering somewhere into the trash bags once more while the lid hit Jaune square in the face with a tremendous ringing noise.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha let her hands come up to her face in horror.

"I'm good!" the blonde haired boy gave her a thumbs up, his voice a bit muffled by the lid, before he fell over backwards.

"That's just great," Pyrrha sighed, placing her hands on her hips and shaking her head. What was she going to do about him now? Should she drag his body back to the car? Then she realized-Neo! She turned around but the girl was already gone. All that was left in her place was a sign that said "haha", laughing at her and Jaune's antics. The girl had silently disappeared and Pyrrha had no idea where to. "Well, that's even better!" she threw her hands up in the air.


End file.
